Symptoms
Symptoms of pancreatic cancer include:
- Jaundice, light-colored stools, dark urine, and itching due to narrowing of the bile duct (cholestasis)
- Upper abdominal pain, tumor pain
- Indigestion, lack of appetite, weight loss, muscle wasting, feeling full, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.
- Fatigue, weakness
- Inflammation of the pancreas, dysglycemia.
- Thrombosis
In addition, there are the adverse effects of the therapies and possible complications. The symptoms usually appear only when the cancer is already advanced. Pancreatic cancer generally has a poor prognosis and high mortality, even if the carcinoma can be surgically removed. The five-year survival rate is reported to be less than 10 percent. Median survival ranges from 4 to 24 months, depending on the stage. For example, celebrities who have died from pancreatic cancer include Patrick Swayze, Luciano Pavarotti and Nella Martinetti.
Causes
The cause of the disease is uncontrolled growth of the exocrine gland cells of the pancreas, which is caused by an accumulation of mutations in the genome of the cells. The head of the pancreas near the duodenum is particularly affected. The cancer is initially localized, but may spread to surrounding organs (lymph nodes, stomach, intestine, liver) and form offshoots (metastases) in various organs. Risk factors include:
- Unhealthy lifestyle: smoking, obesity, malnutrition, diabetes mellitus (also a consequence of the disease).
- Heredity
- Age
- Chronic inflammation of the pancreas
- Mutagenic toxins
Diagnosis
The diagnosis is made on the basis of the patient’s history, physical examination, laboratory methods, imaging techniques (eg, CT, ultrasound, endoscopy) and biopsy. Because the cancer remains asyptomatic for a long time, the diagnosis is usually made after the cancer has reached a certain size.
Treatment
Treatment can increase survival, relieve symptoms, and delay progression. Therapeutic measures include:
- Surgical removal/treatment
- Chemotherapy / palliative chemotherapy with cytostatics, e.g., 5-fluorouracil, gemcitabine.
- Irinotecansucrosofate
- Kinase inhibitor: erlotinib
- Radiotherapy
Caution: life-threatening complications can occur during treatments, such as surgery. Symptomatic treatment:
- Painkillers
- Pancreatin for the substitution of enzymes.
- Insulin as needed (substitution)
- Appetite stimulants
