Pancreatic Cancer

What is Pancreatic Cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is the cancer of the pancreas. The pancreas is an organ is between the stomach, liver and intestine in your abdomen.

Digestive enzymes are released by the pancreas into the small intestine to aid the digestion of food. Hormones, insulin and glucagon are also released by the pancreas into the bloodstream. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose and is usually discovered only in the later stages. The most common type is pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
 

What are the types of Pancreatic Cancer?

Exocrine Pancreatic Cancer

The most common type of exocrine pancreatic cancers is pancreatic adenocarcinoma while the rarer ones include, adenosquamous, squamous, giant, acinar and small cell carcinoma.
 

Endocrine Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors or islet cell tumors are less common forms of pancreatic cancer.

• Insulinomas
  Insulin-producing cell
• Glucagonomas
  Glucagon-producing cell
• Somatostatinomas
  Somatostatin-making cell
• Gastrinomas
  Gastrin-producing cell
• VIPomas
  Vasoactive intestinal peptide-making cell
   

What are the symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer?

• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Jaundice
• Intermittent upper abdominal pain
• Weight loss and loss of appetite 

How is Pancreatic Cancer diagnosed?

Biopsy
A biopsy is done on any suspicious tumours or growths in the pancreas for signs of cancer.
 

Blood Test
A complete blood count blood test will be done to check for white blood cell increase which could be a sign of cancer. 
 

Imaging Tests
Imaging tests are done with ultrasound or CT scan to check the pancreas for abnormalities, tumours or growths.