Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreas is an organ that sits behind the stomach. It releases different enzymes that help us to digest the food. There are few types of pancreatic cancer. But the most common one adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, starts when exocrine cells in the pancreas start to grow out of control.
Pancreatic cancers are rarely detected in the early stages. This is because it doesn’t show the symptoms before it gets spread to other organs. The symptom of pancreatic cancer includes:
- Abdominal pain that radiates to your back
- Loss of appetite or unintended weight loss
- Yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes (jaundice)
- Light-coloured stools
- Dark-coloured urine
- Itchy skin
- New diagnosis of diabetes or existing diabetes that's becoming more difficult to control
- Blood clots
- Fatigue
Like every other cancer, this too happens due to certain gene mutation. But there are other risk factors that potentially increases the chance of developing pancreatic cancer, like:
- Smoking is always a major risk factor to pancreatic cancers
- People with high diabetes are vulnerable to pancreatic cancers
- Chronic inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis)
- Family history of pancreatic cancer
- Obesity
- Older age, as most people are diagnosed after age 65
According to Statista, the cases between 2009 and 2021 has increased about 51.78% in men and 32.95% in women, in the USA.
Sources:
Pancreatic cancer - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic