What is Pancreatic Cancer by Meagan Waters

The pancreas is an organ that lies horizontally in your abdomen behind the lower part of your stomach. The tissue of the pancreas is where pancreatic cancer begins to grow. There are various symptoms of pancreatic cancer which don’t occur until the disease is in an advanced stage. The causes of pancreatic cancer are not clear but understanding the pancreas is crucial. The treatment for pancreatic cancer depends on the stage, your age, overall health and personal preference.

Signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer most times occur in a later stage but when they do appear they include, upper abdominal pain that may radiate to you back. You might also see yellowing of the skin and in the whites of your eyes, which is called jaundice. You might experience loss of appetite, weight loss, depression and even blood clots.

While the cause of pancreatic cancer is unknown, understanding the pancreas better might shed some light. The pancreas is about 6 inches long and looks like a pear lying on its side. The pancreas is a very important part of your digestive system, it secrets hormones, including insulin, to help your body process sugar. Digestive juices are produced to help your body digest food. Pancreatic cancer occurs when cells in the pancreas develop mutations in their DNA. These mutations cause the cells to grow uncontrollably and to continue living after normal cells would die. These cells can then form a tumor.
The cancerous cells line the ducts of the pancreas. This type of cancer is called pancreatic adenocarcinoma or pancreatic exocrine cancer.

The first goal of pancreatic cancer treatment is to eliminate the cancer, when possible. If that isn’t an option, the most important thing is to prevent the pancreatic cancer from growing or causing more harm. When treatment is unlikely to offer a benefit, doctors will help to relieve symptoms and make you as comfortable as possible. Options for treatment include surgery if the pancreatic cancer is confined to the pancreas. Another option is radiation therapy, which uses high energy beams, such as x-rays and protons, to destroy cancer cells. This form of treatment may be performed before or after surgery. Chemotherapy is a form of drugs that can be injected into your veins or taken orally to kill cancer cells. It is typically used to treat cancer that has spread beyond the pancreas but only to nearby organs and not distant regions of the body. Targeted therapy uses drugs that attack specific abnormalities within cancer cells. Chemicals that signal cancer cells to grow and divide are blocked by the drug called Erlotinib. This drug is normally combined with chemotherapy for people with a more advanced state of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is formed in the ducts of the pancreas, which is one of the most important parts of your digestive systems. The symptoms of pancreatic cancers include upper abdominal pain that may radiate to you back. You might also see yellowing of the skin and in the whites of your eyes, which is called jaundice. You might experience loss of appetite, weight loss, depression and even blood clots.  Although the cause is unknown, it is known that pancreatic cancer occurs when cells in the pancreas develop mutation in the DNA.  There are various forms of treatment depending on the stage which include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and targeted therapy. There is no cure for pancreatic cancer but it is worth the fight to find one.

References: Mayo Clinic

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pancreatic-cancer/DS00357