Pancreatic Cancer: Symptoms, Myths and Treatment

Pancreatic Cancer is a type of life-threatening cancers which starts in the tissues of the pancreas. The pancreas is an organ located in the abdomen and lies behind the lower part of the stomach.

The main function of the pancreas is to release enzymes which aid in digestion and producing hormones to manage the blood sugar levels. Exocrine cells and neuroendocrine cells, such as islet cells, are two types of pancreatic cells that can develop into pancreatic cancer. The exocrine type is much more common than the neuroendocrine type but is usually detected at an advanced stage while neuroendocrine types are less frequent and have a better prognosis.

Symptoms

Pancreatic Cancer usually doesn’t show signs and symptoms until the disease is in advanced stages. Dr. Vinay Gaikwad, Director, The Oncology Centre, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram explains some of the typical symptoms that consist of:

• Loss of appetite or unintended weight loss
• Dark-coloured urine
• Itchy skin
• Yellowing of the skin as well as the eyes (jaundice)

Treatment

Treatment for pancreatic cancer can include- Surgery, Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy or a mixture of the three depending upon the severity of the cancer as well as other conditions of an individual patient (if any).

“The first goal for treatment is to eliminate the cancer if possible. If it’s not possible then the course of action is to focus on improving the quality of life of the patient and limiting the cancer from growing or causing more harm,” adds Dr Gaikwad.

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Myths

Over time several myths have been started to be associated with pancreatic cancer, Dr Gaikwad debunks some of these myths.

Myth: All pancreatic cancer is treated the same way

Fact: The truth is miles from this particular statement as due to the advancements in technology, specialists are now able to provide patient centric treatment for cases of pancreatic cancer.

Myth: Surgery will make it spread

Fact: Some people believe that if a person opts for the surgery, the tumour will grow however that isn’t true. Pancreatic cancer can grow to other organs due to several reasons but they have nothing to do with surgery or diagnostic tests or anything.

Myth: Pancreatic cancer isn’t treatable

Fact: This is a common notion for not pancreatic only but for every cancer type. But as technology has advanced and newer treatment modalities as well as diagnostic tests have come up, cancers have become curable now.

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