Pancreatic cancer prognosis

Prognoses in oncology

Nowadays, forecasts are only given statistically. Patients who ask about their life expectancy for a particular cancer should no longer receive a numerical answer from the medical profession, as these are purely statistical data and not absolute individual figures. However, through the nationwide cancer registries and the evaluation of the figures, it is possible to correct the figures retrospectively.

In oncology, the so-called 5-year survival rate is used. This means that patients are counted who are still alive 5 years after diagnosis. The count is based solely on survival and does not give any information about the quality of life of the patient.

Thus, a patient who is bedridden and severely affected by a severe oncological disease would also fall into the 5-year survival rate. Pancreatic cancer, also known as pancreatic carcinoma, is a very serious and life-threatening disease that requires very rapid treatment in order to improve the prognosis. Together with bronchial carcinoma, pancreatic cancer is one of the most serious known diseases.

A major problem is that the first symptoms of pancreatic cancer appear relatively late, so that a diagnosis at an early stage is either made by chance or the diagnosis can only be made when symptoms begin to appear. By this time the cancer is usually well advanced and the final stage of pancreatic cancer has been reached. Especially if the cancer has spread to large parts of the pancreas and has already spread to other organs, the therapeutic measures still available must be weighed up.

Of crucial importance is the so-called staging (i.e. the classification of the tumour). This classification includes how far the tumour has already spread and, above all, whether the tumour has already metastasised. This is also known as remote metastasis.

Organs further away can also be affected by remote metastasis. It is also particularly important to find out whether the lymph vessel system is affected. The so-called lymph channels span the entire body and serve to defend against invading pathogens.

Before a pathogen reaches the body’s bloodstream, where it can cause life-threatening blood poisoning, it must first cross the barrier in the lymph vessel system. To filter the pathogen, nodes in the lymph vessel system are switched on at regular intervals. These nodes filter the lymph fluid and can swell and hurt in the event of infection.

As great an advantage in the defence against pathogens as disadvantageous is a corresponding infestation with malignant cells. Since the lymph vessel system runs through the entire body, malignant altered cells, once they have entered the circulation, can also spread very easily. The lymph vessel system is directly connected to the blood system.

Malignant cells that are in the blood can eventually enter the lymph vessel system and vice versa. Through the lymph vessel system, the malignant cells quickly reach the lymph nodes, which they can then also attack. The infestation of lymph nodes thus means the malignant infestation of the lymph vessel system and is prognostically a serious problem.

The classification of a pancreatic tumour is called I if the tumour is restricted to the pancreas. If adjacent tissues are also affected, the tumour is classified in category II. If regional lymph nodes are affected, the tumour is classified in group III. If there are distant metastases, the tumour is classified as IV-degree.