Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer begins when abnormal cells in the pancreas grow uncontrollably and form a tumor. The pancreas is an organ behind the stomach that helps digest food and makes hormones, including insulin, that help control blood sugar. Exocrine adenocarcinoma is the most common type of pancreatic cancer. It can affect adults of any sex, race, ethnicity, or background, and early disease may be difficult to detect because it often causes few noticeable symptoms.

Pancreatic cancer may cause no symptoms in its early stages. When symptoms appear, they can vary depending on where the tumor is located and whether it has spread to nearby tissues or other organs. These possible symptoms of pancreatic cancer can also occur with many other conditions.

Pancreatic cancer develops when acquired or inherited changes in cell DNA disrupt the normal controls that regulate growth, repair, and cell death. These abnormal cells can multiply and form a tumor. The exact cause is usually not known, and researchers do not identify a single cause for most individual cases.

Causes and risk factors are not the same

A risk factor raises a person’s chance of developing pancreatic cancer, but it does not directly explain why that person develops it. Some people develop the disease without any known risk factors, while having one or more risk factors does not mean cancer will occur.

Risk factors that cannot usually be changed

Risk factors that may be changed or managed

Evaluation usually starts with a medical history and physical examination. Blood tests may include liver tests and selected tumor markers, although tumor markers alone cannot diagnose pancreatic cancer. Imaging such as CT or MRI, and sometimes endoscopic ultrasound, helps evaluate the pancreas and nearby structures; a biopsy may be needed to confirm the diagnosis and identify the tumor type.

What staging means

Staging considers the tumor’s size and location, whether it involves nearby blood vessels or lymph nodes, and whether it has spread to distant organs. Localized or resectable disease may be removable with surgery. Locally advanced disease may involve nearby structures and not be safely removable at first, while metastatic or stage 4 disease has spread to distant parts of the body. Your clinical team determines the stage using the full evaluation.

Pancreatic cancer treatment is individualized according to the cancer’s stage, resectability, tumor type and biology, overall health, and personal goals. Surgery may offer the possibility of long-term control for selected localized tumors, while chemotherapy or other systemic treatment may be used before or after surgery, for locally advanced disease, or for metastatic disease.

Pancreatic cancer prognosis depends on the stage at diagnosis, whether the cancer can be completely removed, tumor biology, overall health, and response to treatment. Survival statistics describe groups of people diagnosed during a particular period and cannot predict one person’s outcome. Advances in diagnosis and treatment may also mean that older statistics do not reflect current care.

Follow-up visits may include a review of symptoms, physical examinations, blood tests, and imaging. The schedule depends on the treatment plan, symptoms, recurrence risk, and clinician judgment. Tell your care team about new or changing concerns between scheduled visits.