Pancreatic cancer symptoms, risk factors, staging,

Pancreatic cancer symptoms may not develop until the cancer has reached advanced stages or spread to other parts of the body. Some common symptoms include:

• Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes)
• Digestive problems, including abnormal stools, nausea or vomiting
• Pain in the upper abdomen which can extend to your back
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Sudden weight loss
• Swollen gallbladder (usually found by your doctor during a physical exam)
• Blood clots
• Diabetes

risk factors

 

GENERAL

• Age (close to 90 percent of all pancreatic cancers are found in people age 55 and older)
• Gender: For an unknown reason, men are somewhat more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than are women.
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Chronic pancreatitis
• Cirrhosis of the liver
• Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection

LIFESTYLE

• Smoking cigarettes: Almost a third (20-30 percent) of all pancreatic cancers are linked to smoking cigarettes. Carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) found in tobacco products may damage the pancreas, and smoking may add to the risks associated with other conditions, like long-term inflammation of the pancreas (chronic pancreatitis). Likewise, the risk of diabetes and obesity may also be greater if an individual smokes.

GENETIC
About 10 percent of pancreatic cancers are thought to be related to genetic factors, meaning an inherited gene mutation is passed on from parents to their children. Although these genetic conditions do not directly cause pancreatic cancer, they may increase your risks for developing the disease.
The following genetic mutations are considered risk factors for pancreatic cancer:

• Mutations in the gene BRCA2 (hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome)
• Mutations in the gene p16 (familial melanoma)
• Mutations in the gene PRSS1 (familial pancreatitis)
• Mutations in the gene NF1 (neurofibromatosis, type 1)

Other inherited syndromes that may be linked to pancreatic cancer include:

• Lynch Syndrome
• Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome (PJS)
• Von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome (VHL)
• MEN1 (multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1) syndrome: A rare genetic disorder that may be a risk factor for malignant islet cell tumors
•  
  

  Staging & grading pancreatic cancer

  Once the test results are in, your doctor may assign one of the three pancreatic cancer stages to the disease:
  
• Resectable: The tumor nodules can be removed.
• Locally advanced: The cancer has spread to areas surrounding the pancreas, such as tissues or blood vessels.
• Metastatic: The cancer resides in multiple organs.

Sometimes, doctors use a classification system based on four numeric stages. This is known as the AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) staging system and is used for a variety of different cancer types, including pancreatic cancer. Using this pancreatic cancer staging system, doctors differentiate when the disease has spread to the tissue surrounding the pancreas (stage II) and when cancer has reached the blood vessels near the pancreas (stage III). This system still acknowledges the advanced stage of pancreatic cancer as metastatic.

Other times, a grade level is given to pancreatic cancer. Much like the stages of pancreatic cancer, grades help classify how aggressive the tumor is, and how likely it is to grow and spread to surrounding tissue and other locations in the body. Grade levels range between 1 and 4 with G1 (grade 1) denoting cancers that look similar to normal cells, and G4 (grade 4) denoting cancer cells that are highly abnormal in appearance.

 THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.

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