Introduction 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.
Background
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
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Cells may experience uncontrolled growth and if they are damaged or mutated in the DNA.There are four types of genes that are responsible for the cell division process. Those four types of genes are Oncogenes, Tumor Suppressor genes, Suicide genes, and DNA-Repair genes. Oncogenes tell the cells when to divide. Tumor Suppressor genes tell the cells when not to divide. Suicide genes controls apoptosis and tell the cells to kill themselves if something goes wrong. DNA-Repair informs the cells to repair damaged DNA. Cancer can occur when the cells of genes mutation are not able to correct damaged DNA and are not able to commit cell suicide. If you have some DNA mutations of the oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes that can lead to pancreatic cancer. It is a Great chance that the mutation was a result of some factors that affected the DNA after you were born rather than you inheriting it from your parents.
Other Factors and Causes As we age, there are other medical factors that can increase our chances in causing cancer mutations in the body. Age is a very important risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Especially for someone over the age of sixty, it is very common to be found in patients of that age. Diet and habits also pay a factor in increasing the chance of pancreatic cancer. Facts of pancreatic cancer states that pancreatic cancers are more likely to exist in men that women, and more in African Americans than whites. Smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption is also consider big risk factors for pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic Cancer is cancer of an organ in the human body called the pancreas, which is located behind the lower part of the stomach. The function of this organ is to secrete certain essential enzymes to digest food and also secrete hormones to metabolize sugars such as insulin and glucagon (Mayoclinic). People get pancreatic cancer when the cells of the pancreas develop genetic mutations; and these can form in both the exocrine and endocrine cells of the pancreas, but exocrine tumors are more common than endocrine tumors. Because this cancer spreads very quickly throughout the body and the symptoms of the disease don’t usually appear until the cancer is at an advanced stage, it is a leading cause of death
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
Cancer can be caused by many factors. Some of these factors include: Genetics, Tobacco, Diet, Physical Activity, Sun Exposure, Radiation, and Other Carcinogens. Some types of cancer run in certain families, but most cancers are not clearly linked to the genes we inherit from our parents. Most people are unaware about just how much tobacco use accounts for of cancer related deaths. Even though cigarette use has decreased significantly there are still tobacco products that are highly popular. Vape pens, or electronic cigarettes are on the rise among former smokers and teenagers. Although believed to be healthier there is still nicotine, and unknown substances in the flavored liquid. Many people are also very unprepared when it comes to being outside for prolonged periods of time. Sunscreen is a necessity in order to protect oneself from the harmful UV rays. It is also very important to have regular checkups from a
There are two kinds of pancreatic cancer. There is the endocrine tumors and the exocrine tumors. Endocrine tumors are less common and they affect the islet cells of the pancreas. They tend to be benign and not often become malignant. However the exocrine tumors are much more common and this is what Gene is diagnosed with. Exocrine tumors are often called adenocarcinomas and that means cancer affect the gland cells such as the ducts of the glands (American Cancer Society). Pancreatic adenocarcinomas keep the glands from secreting normal The signs and symptoms of pancreatic adenocarcinoma is darkening of the urine, irritated skin, jaundice, pain in the upper abdomen and back, unexplained weight loss, stomach bloating, weakness, and nausea.
When spreading through the body there are certain stages the cancer has to go through to expand. Stage 0. There is no spread.The cancer is limited to only one cell in the pancreas. Stage I: The cancer is only limited to the pancreas cell, but has moved at least two centimeters. Not yet visible in screening tests. Stage II: The cancer has grown outside the pancreas and may have spread to the lymph nodes. Stage III: The tumor has spread drastically making it now possible for the tests to detect the tumor,increasing the possibility for it expand into the blood vessels or nerves. Stage IV: The cancer has spread to different organs of the body.("Pancreatic Cancer Treatments by Stage") The first place to attack after spreading would be the stomach, then it would expand to the liver. After the cancer reaches these points, it travels to other places in the body. ("Treating Pancreatic Cancer, Based on Extent of the Cancer").
Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal of all of the major cancers. The lethality rate within five years of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is 93%. That means that only 7% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live five more years. One of the biggest contributing factors to the high mortality rate of pancreatic cancer is the difficulty to diagnose the disease at an early stage of its development. This leads to a central question in the pancreatic cancer field of how to diagnose the disease earlier. On top of being difficult to diagnose, the pancreatic cancer treatments of surgical removal, chemotherapy or combinatorial chemotherapy and radiation have
A considerable amount of the studies suggested the association with coffee was probably because the majority of coffee consumers tend to be heavy tobacco smokers, thus tobacco consumption is the exposure and coffee is a confounding factor leading to pancreatic cancer. Additionally, it is critical to note coffee is the most common beverage consumed around the world, thus difficult to make a correlation of cause-effect relation with coffee. Nonetheless, Miguel Porta and colleagues suggested coffee is likely playing a different role—other than exposure and confounder— in pancreatic cancer. They suggest it is either acting as induction or inhibition of metabolic pathways, thus activating or deactivating carcinogenic chemicals. The other proposal is that coffee is inhibiting the relevant DNA repair mechanisms. Vinies states the second reasoning seems more realistic due to supportive information. As you can see, throughout his letter, Vinies argues longitudinal study designs with repeated measures are necessary to eliminate possible confounders altering
The first discovery of pancreatic cancer was thought to be during the 18th century, but the first cases were reported in the 1800s. As more cancers were discovered throughout the body, more research was done on it. It has been a problem for hundreds of years, but there was and still isn’t a real cure. Within the last 10 years more light has been shed upon the subject and more research is being done. Pancreatic cancer, like all other cancers has no “cure”, but there are ways to treat it. This type of cancer is one of the most deadly kinds, especially if it is not caught early on. According to Pancreatic Cancer Action, the risks of people ages 45-84 is about 84.6% and when people get diagnosed they are usually under the age of 65 (“Causes
cause as it takes a long time for a cell to become cancerous, as there
“Cancer”, its a disease that have claimed the lives of millions, its a disease that has not been cured, and its a disease that have many different forms. There are many types of cancer. It can develop in almost any organ or tissue, such as colon, lung, skin, bones, breast or nerve tissue. Cancer is defined as “a malignant growth or tumor resulting from the division of abnormal cells.” Some of the body cells begin to divide without stopping and spreading into surrounding issues. As cells become abnormal, old and damaged cells survive somehow when they should die, and the new cells form when they are not needed. Cancers of the blood, such as leukemias generally do not form solid tumors. These cells can divide without stopping and may form growths called tumors.
The trend of the count of pancreatic cancer incidences by age group as appears in figure 1, shows a slight increase above the age of 55. A Higher number of incidences appear above the age of 60. The number of incidence of pancreatic cancer per year is nearly the same in males and females as illustrated in Figure 2 showing the overlap between both trend lines.
Genetic changes that causes cancer can be inherited from our parents. They can also arise during a person’s lifetime as a result of errors that occur as cells divide or because of damage to DNA caused by certain environmental exposures. Cancer-causing environmental exposures include substances, such as the chemicals in tobacco smoke, and radiation, such as ultraviolet rays from the sun
Cancer begins with the body’s cells uncontrollably reproducing, invading and destroying healthy tissue, which includes the organs as well. A collection of cells which grow together to create a lump or mass referred to as a tumor. That starts in one part of the body then expands to the surrounding areas where the mass began, known as metastasis which is extremely problematic to treat. MNT (2015) says, “Tumors can grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous, and circulatory systems, and they can release hormones that alter body function.” There are more than 200 types of cancer that will affect 1 in 3 people including those cancers that affect the blood stream (leukemia) and skin.
Permanent gene mutations are what cause cells to malfunction. When this happens several times to the same cell it can become cancerous. This can take many years in some cases. A cancerous cell reproduces at different rates, but eventually they overcrowd the normal cells and turn into a tumor.
Cancer is a kids of diseases which is the cells divided abnormal and uncountable. That cells can invade to other tissues of human’s body through blood and lymph systems.( MediLexicon International) Cancer is the general term of that disease, actually is not just one disease. There are more than a hundred different types of cancer. Those kids of diseases are most orinage by the organ.