WHY IS PANCREATIC CANCER SO DANGEROUS ?
Hello steemians !
I am back with very new and interesting topic. Today I will be discussing pancreatic cancer which has the lowest survival rate .
In U.S , almost 50,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year.
According to the American Cancer Society, one-year survival rate is 20% and five-year survival rate is 7 %
These data might have made you clear that pancreatic cancer is common and dreadful.
WHAT IS PANCREAS?
Pancreas is a Glandular organ. It serves both endocrine( releases hormone insulin , glucagon and somatostatin ) and exocrine functions( releases digestive enzyme ).
Here we are mostly concerned about its anatomy rather than physiology. It is about 6 inches in length located in the C- shaped loop of duodenum behind stomach. Anatomically it consists of Head, Neck , Body and Tail.
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WHAT MAKES PANCREATIC CANCER SO DREADFUL?
Pancreatic cancer is diagnosed at very late stage. This is due to a fact that in the early stage it does not present with any sign and symptoms. Many characteristics sign and symptoms ( discussed later ) develops when tumor size is significantly large.
Also ,Pancreas is located close to the vital organs.So, it metastasizes (spread ) to these organs like liver ( most common), GI tracts , lungs etc.
So , doctor often diagnose it when it has already reached a more advanced form. In 70 % of the case, it has already spread to other organs by the time patient is diagnosed.
Even pancreatic cancer is detected early , they tend to be very aggressive .
Basically, death of the patient in pancreatic cancer is due to spread to the liver. That's why patients don't survive after being removal of more than 95 % pancreatic cells and cancerous cells by surgery.
SYMPTOMS OF PANCREATIC CANCER
Most important symptoms includes - weight loss , abdominal pain , yellowish discoloration of skin , nausea , vomiting etc.
SO, WHAT IS THE OVERALL SURVIVAL RATE ?
Before knowing the survival rate it is very much essential to know the stage of pancreatic cancer. Survival rate depends upon the stage of cancer.
1. 5 YEAR SURVIVAL RATE FOR EXOCRINE PANCREATIC CANCER-
- survival rate with stage 1A Is 14% and with stage 1B is 12 %.
- survival rate with stage II A is 7 % and with stage II B is 5 %.
- survival rate with stage III is 3%.
- survival rate with stage IV is 1 %.
2. 5 YEAR SURVIVAL RATE FOR NEUROENDOCRINE PANCREATIC CANCER(NET)-
The data is only available for the patients treated with surgery.
- survival rate with stage I is 61%.
- survival rate with stage II is 41 %.
- survival rate with stage III is 41 %.
- survival rate with stage IV is 16 %.
All these statistics are taken from American Cancer Society
RISK FACTOR
Smoking and family history is most common risk factor.
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PREVENTION
There is no definitive prevention .It is essential to avoid risk factor most importantly quit smoking .
Healthy diet and physical exercise is must essential.
Thanks for reading .
DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW , RESTEEM AND UPVOTE
very interesting, it appears i may be in a minority , The Tumour in my Pancreas was found before it turned into a cancerous Tumour.
Let's not forget, Steve Jobs died from pancreatic cancer too
Pancreas served both in the endocrine and exocrine makes it difficult to remove without affecting the patients too right?? (if they can diagnose early enough)
And so does Alan Rickman, Anne Francis , Wolfgang Pauli and list goes on !
Yes , it is difficult to remove ( and very difficult to diagnose in early stage )
Thanks for this. Very informative. It's pretty crazy how hard it is to detect! I caught a little mistake: You wrote the pancreas is 6 centimeters when it's actually 6 inches. For a second I thought the pancreas is tiny haha
You are right ! its 6 inches. i wrote cm instead of inch.
Thanks for your comment @steemmate
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Interestingly pancreatic cancer can cause jaundice even prior to metastasis to the liver by the tumour occluding the common bile duct. It can therefore be a very important symptom for recognising pancreatic cancer. The jaundice does not simply mean the cancer has spread to the liver.
sorry for the late reply @ovij
you are correct. Sign and symptoms of obstructive jaundice can be seen early.
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