Pancreatic Cancer: Risk Factors, Why It Is Found Late, and Treatment

The pancreas is a gland behind your stomach and in front of your spine. It makes the juices that help break down food, and the hormones that help control blood sugar. Pancreatic cancer usually starts in the cells that make the juices.

Risk factors

• smoking;
• long-term diabetes;
• chronic pancreatitis;
• certain inherited disorders.

Why it is hard to catch early

• No early symptoms. It does not cause symptoms right away, and later symptoms are often vague or easy to miss: yellowing of the skin and eyes, pain in the abdomen and back, weight loss and fatigue.
• Hidden. Because the pancreas sits behind other organs, health care providers cannot see or feel tumours in a routine exam.

Diagnosis

Doctors use a physical exam, blood tests, imaging tests and a biopsy.

Treatment

Because it is often found late and spreads quickly, pancreatic cancer can be hard to treat. Possible treatments:

• surgery;
• radiation;
• chemotherapy;
• targeted therapy — drugs or other substances that attack specific cancer cells while doing less harm to normal cells.

Sources

• "Pancreatic Cancer," MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, drawing on the National Cancer Institute (NIH). https://medlineplus.gov/pancreaticcancer.html
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.