Pancreatic Cancer Essay

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)

Inside the pancreas there are exocrine and endocrine glands. The exocrine glands make pancreatic "juice" that

Pancreatic Cancer Axia College (2009) Pancreatic cancer is an abnormal, uncontrolled growth of the cells in the pancreas, which is a digestive gland located behind the stomach. The pancreas is both an endocrine and exocrine gland. Cancer of the exocrine pancreas is more common than cancerof the endocrine pancreas. Pancreaticcancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer related deaths among men and women. Pancreatic cancer remains both a challenge to diagnose and even a greater challenge to treat effectively. What is the pancreas? The pancreas is a spongy, tube-shaped organ about six inches long. The pancreas is located in the back of the abdomen, behind the stomach. The head of the pancreas is on the right side of the abdomen. The

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

Pancreatic Cancer starts in the tissues of the pancreas.To give a vivid image of the pancreas, it is a six-inch spongy shaped organ. Some people say it is shaped

People with certain risk factors may be more likely than others to develop cancer of the pancreas. Some risk factors that may increase the chance of getting cancer of the pancreas include smoking tobacco, the most important risk factor for pancreatic cancer. People with diabetes, family history with pancreatic cancer increases the risk of developing the disease, inflammation of the pancreas and having pancreatitis for a long time. Overweight or obese people may likely than other people to develop pancreatic cancer. Possible risk factors being studied include, diet high in animal fat and heavy drinking of alcoholic beverages. “Another area of active research is whether certain genes increase the risk of disease. Many people who get pancreatic cancer have none of these risk factors, and many people who have known risk factors don’t develop the disease”.(pg. 7).

Pancreatic zymogens are the inactive form of enzymes that contributes a fundamental role in the digestive process (14). The release of these enzymes are essential in the overall regulation of the acinar cells. The pancreatic acinar cells focuses on the storage and synthesis of complicated digestive enzymes. It also has the ability to regulate secretion before allowing any enzymes to reach the duodenum of the small intestine. The exocrine pancreas involves several crucial components that each carries out important responsibilities. One being the exoneration of granules from within the pancreatic duct system that eventually merges into the small intestines (15). Pancreatic zymogens are usually stimulated after reaching the duodenum. From there another form of enzyme called trypsin activates neighboring active

This is because the pancreas is located deep in the belly just in front of the spine. As time goes on these cancers cells being to grow much bigger and when they do, they start causing different symptoms depending on the location of the cancer within the pancreas, by the time symptoms are noticed, they have grown and spread throughout the body. Easily identified symptoms are formed when tumor is already large enough to press on other organs of the body, some of these symptoms might include: jaundice which is caused by buildup of bilirubin, abdominal pain which is caused as a result of the cancer pressing on nearby organs, lack of appetite and pale greasy stools resulting when fatty foods are not being digested because cancer blocked the release of pancreatic juice into the intestine. Pancreatic cancer sometimes press on the far end wall of the stomach making it partly blocked thereby making food very hard to get through resulting in Nausea and vomit. Some other symptoms that might be hard to detect include gallbladder enlargement which can only be detected by imaging test, blood cloth and fatty acid

Carcinoid tumors are a subset of neuroendocrine tumors and overall incidence of carcinoids in the United States is estimated at 5.25 cases per 100,000 population. The majority of carcinoid tumors arise within the gastrointestinal tract (58%), with the pulmonary system as the next most common site of origin (27%). The remainder (15%) arises from other or unknown locations1.

Firstly we will talk about the pathology of type 1 and type 2 so we can have a clear vision of how they both work differently. In our body’s we have two type of cells that are produced in the pancreas they are called alpha cells and beta cells. These cells have two very important jobs. Alpha cells

Pancreatic cancer is lethal malignancy with a mortality rate that almost equals its incidence. It is the 4th leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with only a 5-year survival rate of about 6%. Pancreatic cancer remains to be one of the most aggressive tumors. When diagnosed 60-80% patients already have locally advanced or the tumor has already metastasized. A majority of pancreatic cancers are derived from the exocrine part of the pancreas. The exocrine part of the pancreas produces digestive enzymes that help break down proteins, fats, and starches. There are several mutations that have been identified in pancreatic cancer; these mutations can lead to potential biomarkers, leading towards a better prognosis for high risk patients.

Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms (IPMN) are tumors that grow within the pancreatic duct that produce thick fluid. This tumor can be classified as main duct IPMN or branch duct IPMN. The classification between main duct IPMN and branch duct IPMN are based on imaging studies as well as histology. In imaging studies some cysts at times display involvement within

Pancreatic cancer is a major disease that up to present times has a very high mortality and progression rate which is because it presents very late in its course and most has already metastasized before clinical diagnosis. This makes it difficult to treat.

Tumors are one of the most feared diseases of our time. Many people upon hearing the word “tumor” immediately resonate to the conclusion of it being cancer, which is not necessarily true. Tumors fall into to two main types, benign and malignant. Although they are considerably different in tissue invasion, their nature that makes them distinct and symptoms, they are also quite similar in the way they recur in the same location, growth size and their health risks.