Pancreatic Cancer Papers

There are a wide variety of cancer types. They all have several things in common, however. Each cancer starts with cells that become abnormal or cancerous. These cells reproduce and form a mass of cancerous cells. This mass is called a tumor. When the cancerous cells spread, or metastasize, they can impact other tissues, organs, and systems of the body. A second commonality among cancers is that when they are detected early, they are easier to treat and the treatments are more likely to work. In many cases, a cancer that is caught early can be completely destroyed.

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

Approximately 20% of pancreatic cancer is found to be operable or resectable. The complete resection of the primary lesion is best treatment for patients with localized pancreatic cancer. However the risk of both local and distal recurrence is high in following resection. In early stage pancreatic cancer the complete resection are associated with considerable morbidity in 40–60% of patients and mortality in less than 3% of patients (Sohn et al., 2000; Winter et al., 2006). Moreover, it takes 2–3 months for complete recovery to a normal quality of life. Although the 5-year survival rate of resected pancreatic cancer is approximately 20% and the median overall survival time is 17–27 months (Winter et al., 2006).

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

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

Schottenfeld discusses what can cause cancer, how to survive this deadly disease physically, mentally, and emotionally, genetic risks of cancer, moralities, and incidence. The book contains five sections. These sections are labeled Basic Concepts, The Magnitude of Cancer, The Causes of Cancer, Cancer by Tissue of Origin, and Cancer Prevention and Control.

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

Signs and Symptoms from early to late stages include; Dark urine, pale stools, and yellow skin and eyes from jaundice, Nausea and vomiting, frequent bowel movement, Pain in the upper part of your belly and pain in the middle part of your back, relieved by a shift in position, Others may include weakness or feeling very tired with loss of appetite or feelings of fullness and weight loss. Pancreatic cancer can be diagnosis by having a blood tests, CT scan, an x-ray, ultrasound and endoscopy. Physical exam may examine abdominal changes in areas near the pancreas, liver,

A histologic diagnosis is not usually required in patients who are candidates for surgery. The tissue diagnosis is made at the time of the surgical procedure. Percutaneous fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the pancreas, which is used to diagnose pancreatic tumors, is also used to confirm the diagnosis in patients whose tumors are not respectable so that a palliative plan of care can be determined. This may eliminate the stress and postoperative pain of ineffective surgery. In this procedure, a needle is inserted through the anterior abdominal wall into the pancreatic mass, guided by CT, ultrasound, ERCP, or other imaging techniques. The aspirated material is examined for malignant cells. Although percutaneous biopsy is a valuable diagnostic tool, it has some potential drawbacks: a false-negative result if small tumors are missed and the risk of seeding of cancer cells

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").

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

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.