Pancreatic Cancer Case Study

According to Professor John Neoptolemos, "There are approximately 7,000 new cases each year - but it is one of the most lethal cancers." The main reason for the low survival rate from pancreatic cancer is due to its difficulty in finding this cancer early. By the time a person has symptoms, the cancer has often reached a large size and spread to other organs. Because the pancreas is deep inside the body, the doctor cannot see or feel tumors during a routine physical exam. There are currently no blood tests or other tests that can easily find this cancer early in people without symptoms. Tests for certain genes in people with a family history of the disease can help tell if they are at higher risk for cancer. There are some new tests for finding pancreatic cancer early in people with a strong family history of the disease, but these tests are complicated and expensive. Some symptoms of pancreatic cancer include jaundice, a yellow color of the eyes and skin caused by a substance buildup in the liver, pain in the belly area or in the middle of the back, significant weight loss over a number of months, loss of appetite, digestive problems including nausea, vomiting, pain that tends to be worse after eating, a swollen gallbladder that is enlarged, blood clots that form in the veins or cause problems with fatty tissue under the skin, and diabetes. If the doctor has any reason to suspect pancreatic cancer, certain tests will be done to see if the disease is really

This year, an estimate of 53,070 adults, have been or will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. (27,670 men and 25,400 women). Pancreatic cancer is the ninth most common cancer in women. Pancreatic cancer should have the most attention because doctors still don’t know how to diagnose this type of cancer yet. The main problem is cost-effective screening tests that easily and reliably find early-stages of pancreatic cancer in people, sometimes show no symptoms.Often “times it is” not found until later stages when the cancer can no longer be surgically removed and has spread from the pancreas to other parts of the body. ("Pancreatic Cancer: Statistics", 2017)

Papanicolaou test fails to detect, on average, 50% of clinically significant pre-cancers and cancers that are present at the time of testing. The interpretation of Papanicolaou smears is subjective, and cellular abnormalities may be missed because of the reader's fatigue and distraction. Another drawback of the Papanicolaou test is the need for highly skilled cytotechnologists, the training of whom takes several years (Louvanto, Chevarie-Davis, Ramanakumar, Franco, & Ferenczy, 2014).

There are not many defined risk factors known for pancreatic cancer. Some risk factors are “family history of the disease, smoking, age, and diabetes (Mayoclinic).” Ideally, pancreatic cancer cells can be detected early and the patient can be treated surgically, but once the cancer has spread, it is usually incurable. A popular clinical tool used to detect pancreatic cancer “is a tumor marker called sialylated Lewis blood group antigen CA19–9, which can act as a sensitive tumor marker, value diminishes when used to detect small, resectable tumors (Maitra,

Usually, radiation therapy is treated by neoadjuvant, adjuvant or definitive treatment with systemic therapy. Around 20% to 80 % of the patients with cancer received radiation therapy through the way of their treatment (de Gonzalez et al., 2011). In this treatment the radiation is usually given along with chemotherapy, which is recognized as chemoradiation or chemoradiotherapy. The Duke University conducts investigational study of neoadjuvant radiation therapy in 96 resectable patients. Everyday patients who received 50.4 Gy dose of radiotherapy are combined with 5-FU-based chemotherapy. After this patients were then surgically findout if there was no evidence of metastatic disease and less mortality. Overall survival (OS) and median survival was (28%:23 months) respectively (Spitz et al., 1997; White and Tyler, 2004). In 1980’s The Gastro-intestinal Tumor Study Group (GITSG) conducted randomized study in purpose of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in resected pancreatic cancer. After R0 resection 49 patients were treated with chemorediotherapy for evaluation of adjuvant

The risk factors of pancreatic cancer are habits that most Americans have developed and can not seem to break. There are five major risk factors that people should consider which include the following; Genetics, Diabetes, Smoking, Obesity and Diet (Wax, 2012). Pancreatic cancer runs in five to ten percent of people who have immediate family members who have also had it (Wax, 2012). Different genes have been indicated as risk but no “pancreatic cancer gene” has yet been discovered (Wax, 2012). “People with diabetes develop Pancreatic cancer about twice as often then people without it” (Margolis, 2002, p.497) and the two diseases have been linked (Wax, 2012). Tobacco use is known to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer (Cancer Research UK, 2013). Smoking will double the risk in developing the disease (Wax, 2012). People, who quit smoking, can reduce the risk of pancreatic, lung, mouth, and certain other cancers and diseases. It is a known fact that people with a body mass index ( BMI) higher

Pancreatic Cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Currently there is no cure for this cancer and all available treatments simply prolong the life of the patient. Diagnosing pancreatic cancer rarely occurs at the onset of the disease due to the location of the pancreas in the body. Symptoms such as weight loss and upper abdominal pain do not show up until it is too late. Enzymes produced by tumors known as tumor markers are not reliable until the disease has well progressed. Once you have been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer there are different types of treatments that are offered to prolong your life.

Table 1: Causes of Pancreatic Cancer What are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer? The symptoms are wide ranged but usually do not appear till in the late stages of the cancer. That is one of the reasons that this is such a deadly killer. Some of the more common symptoms are shared by other diseases and is another factor that causes this disease so hard to diagnose. Pain in the upper back or upper abdomen, loss of appetite, weight loss, jaundice (yellowing of the eyes and skin, dark urine), indigestion, nausea and vomiting. This is a list of the more common symptoms but as with each individual the symptoms can be different in each. As with any unknown disease, a physician is the best place to start to protect peopleshealth and get a correct diagnosis. How is pancreatic cancer diagnosed? The physician will order a variety of possible diagnostic tests. A blood test can assess various pancreatic and liver functions and may suggest pancreatic cancer. If cancer is suspected a needle biopsy is usually conducted to examine the pancreas cells themselves for signs of cancer (Britannica Online 2007). These procedures are invasive and can cause complications including pancreatitis. In order to make a correct diagnosis and to determine the stage of the cancer it is possible to use multiple imaging techniques to allow doctors to see the pancreas even though it

Abdominal ultrasound is sometimes used for quick and cheap first examinations. If there is uncertainty about the diagnosis they may do a biopsy by fine needle aspiration. Pancreatic cancer is usually staged after a ct scan is done. The staging system is four stages,from early to advanced and based on TNM classification.TNM stands for Tumor size, spread to lymph nodes,and metastasis. Based on if surgical removal seems possible,the tumors are divided into three broader categories to help decide treatment. Tumors are resectable, borderline resectable or undetectable. If the disease is still in an early stage(stage 1 or 2) surgical resection of the tumor can be performed. Stage 3 tumors can be borderline resectable where surgery can technically still be done or unresectable where its to locally advanced. Stage 1 cancer is only found in the pancreas. Stage 1 is divided into a and b stages based on tumor size. Stage 1a is when the tumor is no bigger than 2 cm. Stage 1b is when the tumor is bigger than 2 cm. The second stage is when the cancer could have spread to nearby tissue and organs, and may have also spread to the lymph nodes near the

The indications of pancreatic adenocarcinoma don't generally show up in the disease's initial stages and are individually not different to the illness. The indications at diagnosis shift as per the area of the tumor in the pancreas, which anatomists divide into the thick head, the neck, and the decreasing body, finishing in the tail. Despite a tumor's area, the most

There are many forms of cancer. Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Leukemia, and Brain Cancer just to name a few, but the one I am bringing attention to in this essay is Pancreatic Cancer. Pancreatic Cancer is a very aggressive form of cancer and it has many risky factors. Many people do not know those risky factors important information dealing with Pancreatic Cancer and I will explain a few of those important things in this essay. The American Cancer Society and the Cancer Treatment Centers of America gave me a lot of information to help write about this topic.

Pancreatic Cancer is currently one of the deadliest cancers in the world. In the United States alone, Pancreatic Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death among males and third in females causing 19,480 and 24,530 deaths respectively (Siegel et al., 2013). It has a five year survival rate of less than three percent in the United States (Siegel et al., 2013). This is mainly due to late diagnosis, surgical difficulties, aggressive metastases and resistance to apoptosis (Li et al., 2014). Surgical intervention has been seen as the most effective form of treatment for pancreatic tumors but due to late detection, surgical options become difficult to pursue. As a result, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are the main routes of treatment for patients (Li et al., 2014). Unfortunately not only are these routes very low in efficacy (Li et al., 2014), but have incredibly devastating side effects on the body and the overall quality of life of patients (Love et al., 2006).

The pancreas is a glandular organ that serves as two glands in one: As a hormone-producing endocrine gland that produces different important hormones, including insulin, glucagon and somoatostaina as well as serves as a digestive exocrine gland that secrets pancreatic juice which has enzymes that help break down food after it has left the stomach. pancreas is both an exocrine and endocrine cell which is arranged in clusters that is known as Langerhans. Pancreatic cancer is caused by Adenocarcinoma which is cancer of exocrine cell and this happens

Ms. BH is a 70 year old female with a history of recently diagnosed pancreatic adenocarcinoma with hepatic lesions, multifocal PEs s/p IVC filter placement on lovenox, and HTN who presents with persistent nausea and vomiting.

In pancreatic cancer, cancer cells in the pancreas grow and multiply quickly, which can cause a tumor to grow. In stage 4 pancreatic cancer, a cancerous tumor has begun in the pancreas and has spread beyond the pancreas into parts of the body far from the pancreas. It may also have spread to the lymph nodes and the organs and tissues found near the pancreas. The effect of this tumor on the body depends on where the tumor is, how it has spread, and how large it is. If the tumor blocks the flow of bile, which is produced in the