Pancreatic Cancer Research Paper

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)

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

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

This is a 43-year-old male who came in ER with complain of weight loss, about 50 pounds in last 4 months, intermittent vomiting, abdominal pain. Patient has been admitted to hospital as an inpatient as his CT scan showed severe bowel perforation and peritonitis. Patient underwent for exploratory laparotomy followed by sigmoidectomy with colostomy. His previous CT scan (02/2016) revealed multiple liver lesions, largest measuring left hepatic lobe 4 x 5.5 cm and the right hepatic lobe as well as multiple periportal and peripancreatic adenopathy in the stomach and pancreas measuring , and periportal node and prominent epigastric notes. He had a CT-guided biopsy of the liver on 03/02/2016 which revealed carcinoma consistent with Stage IV squamous cell carcinoma of stomach and esophagus with metastasized to the liver. The patient has been on chemotherapy, recently completed 3rd cycle on chemotherapy.

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.

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

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Pancreatic cancer is the cancer of the pancreas. The pancreas is an organ between the spine and the stomach, and is about 6 inches long. The pancreas is also made up of two major components named the exocrine and the endocrine. A person has to have a pancreas to survive and this cancer can cause a rapid decline in health and eventually death. To prevent this cancer, a person needs to stop smoking, maintain a healthy weight, and check up with your sugar.

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.

At today’s visit the patient is awake, alert and oriented. He reports that he has loss 8 lbs recently. He has a poor appetite and has not been taking his megace. He reports generalized neoplasm pain, which he describes as aching with a severity of 4/10. He reports that his pain does not radiate and there are no aggravating factors. He reports that his pain is manage with his current pain regimen of

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.

Pancreatic cancer has been studied many times. Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma(PDAC) is a pancreatic cancer and it is the third most leading cause of death by cancer in the world. Many studies and experiments have been done to improve the poor long-time survival rate of this disease. These studies show that a mutation in KRAS show up in many cases of pancreatic cancer. KRAS is what regulates proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, and survival. Being that KRAS has been confirmed in studies of animals that it is an initiation in cancer cells, it is a great therapeutic target. But these attempts to create something to affect the initiation of pancreatic cancer have been hindered in many ways. Scientists have been looking into how greatly