Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly diseases, which is quick to spread and hard to detect cancers in human being. As per the reports around 30,000 people in United States suffer from this cancer and hence are among the biggest concern for the health experts in the country. However, the medical researchers and scientists are hoping that the ongoing research will make thing easy for treating these types of cancer in the future and thus make it more treatable disease.
Even though people who were able to catch the disease in the initial years with some diagnosis, the survival rate seems to be around 16 percent, which is not the case with other types of cancers. And if the cancer spreads from pancreas to other body organs the survival rate simply goes down to just 2 percent. Hence the statistics about pancreatic cancer is really very deadly and grim. But the good news is these types of cancer are not very much common as compared to the other kinds of cancers, which goes to around 200,000 new cases in comparison to the 30,000 cases for Pancreatic Cancer. But since as you know its incurable, hence the number of deaths caused every year is similar to the above quote figure, which is six times as compared to other types of cancer. Now, let’s check the causes, symptoms and treatment options of this deadly cancer in the following paragraphs.
The causes of Pancreatic Cancer
Unlike several types of cancer, the Pancreatic Cancer causes are still unknown and happen to be mysterious. Although the scientists are able to find out certain risk factors, yet the story still remains far from being complete. As per some recent research some of the risks factors simply hamper the DNA found in the cells of pancreas. The other risks, which could become the causes of this deadly kind of cancer includes, smoking, obesity and improper diet. This in turn results into the growth of abnormal cells in these body organs that come in the form of tumors.
No one really knows the exact causes of this cancer, unlike several types of cancers; it is also called as the disease of old people, which is often diagnosed at the age of 71 years. As you see Americans living more than other people, hence these cases are more found in United States as compared to the other nations especially since past few decades. The popular example of people losing their lives due to this deadly cancer is the brother, father and two sisters of the former president Mr. Jimmy Carter. The familial cases are found around 5 to 15 percent of the total cases; however, no one is able to find out the genetic mutation, which brings in the issue of pancreatic cancer. The genetics involved in this kind of cancer simply seems to be a complex one wherein you could find a few of the mutations that come along in a typical combination, which could lead to cancer.
The symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer
As far as the symptoms are concerned, there are several, which people encounter before being diagnosed by the Pancreatic Cancer. The common symptoms simply include the severe abdominal pain and weight loss. The pain people encounter with cancer could be very much bothering, which radiates from front to back side. As the pancreas are located closed to spine, people also encounter back pains, which is among the common symptoms of this cancer. However, for many reasons, these may not be easily understood by the patient having this pain and most of the time people are seen with itches over their bodies. The other common symptom is the unintended weight loss; hence if people are seen with abrupt weight loss along with some backache you could consider this as one of the major symptoms of this menace. The other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, unforeseen Onset of Diabetes and change of urine and stool color.
The treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
One of the treatment options for this deadly cancer is surgery. At times, the surgeon can get to see some of the localized tumor, which is inoperable. And in case if there is a tumor the surgeon could easily remove the affected part of pancreas along with the other affected organs. Salvaging some of the portions of pancreas is among the best preferred solution by the surgeons or else the patient has to cope with the sudden insulin production loss and even to the threats on their lives. If the cancer is found at the head of the pancreas, the surgeon is often seen adopting the Whipple procedure, which is among the major surgeries wherein several parts of small intestine, stomach, bile duct are removed apart from the pancreas’ head. If the surgeon finds the tumor at some other side, the surgeons operating would remove the portion along the side of spleen.
The other common treatment option for this deadly cancer is chemotherapy. This treatment option employs several anti cancer medicines simply to kill the cancerous cells or to stop the same to spread. These medicines can be either injected inside the patient’s vein or simply consumed in the form or tablets. This treatment can even attack the healthy and normal kind of cells found in your body, hence it brings in a couple of side effects like mouth sores, nausea, fatigue and vomiting. However, these symptoms are simply temporary and could be seen going away once the treatment is over. The last option is Radiotherapy, which employs high energy radiation beams that shrinks the tumor and thus makes the patient free from pain. Unlike the chemotherapy, Radiotherapy too has several side effects, which include skin rashes, fatigue, sores over patient’s gullet (Oesophagus), loss of appetite, etc. However, these could be seen going off once the treatment is complete as they happen to be temporary.
Final word
Pancreatic cancer is among the life threatening cancers witnessed in patients of older age groups. Though its causes are not known to the doctors and the treatment could be challenging most of the time. However, this menace could be prevented with healthy lifestyle. Hence make sure you follow the all the norms of healthy living and get away from such life threatening diseases like Pancreatic cancer.