Pancreatic Cancer

What is pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is a cancer that is difficult to diagnose and treat, and its most common type is adenocarcinoma. These tumors often sit in the head of the organ and quickly cause jaundice. Pancreatic cancer can progress rapidly and metastasize to surrounding tissues and to distant organs, above all the liver. It is seen mostly after the age of 60, and early diagnosis is regarded as the most important factor for the treatment of the disease.

 

Symptoms: Jaundice, pain in the abdomen, back and lower back, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, darkening of the urine (tea-colored urine), stools turning white-gray (putty-like stools)

 

Risk factors: Smoking, obesity, newly developed diabetes, chronic pancreatitis

 

Diagnosis: Ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR and MRCP) , PET-CT imaging, liver function tests and tumor markers (CA 19-9)

 

Treatment

Today, the only treatment method in pancreatic cancer that offers a chance of being rid of the disease or of long survival is surgery. It is the first option in patients who have no distant organ metastasis and who can tolerate surgical treatment. Adding drug therapy (chemotherapy) to surgical treatment increases the chance of cure.

In cancers located in the head of the pancreas, the ‘Whipple’ (pancreaticoduodenectomy) operation is performed. Less often, for tumors located in the body–tail part of the organ, ‘distal pancreatectomy’ is performed, that is, the operation in which the body and tail of the pancreas are removed.