Pancreatic cancer: symptoms, diagnosis, treatment

One of the dangerous pathologies is a pancreatic tumor. Symptoms of the disease can not be detected at an early stage. Such an ailment is diagnosed in patients, usually in a neglected stage. And to cure progressive pathology is quite difficult.

Anatomical Description

The pancreas is a small organ located directly behind the stomach. It performs two important functions:

1. Digestive. The body produces enzymes. They contribute to the cleavage of proteins, fats, carbohydrates that have arrived with food. Isolation of enzymes is carried out through the gland ducts into the lumen of the duodenum.
2. Endocrine. The pancreas produces hormones that participate in metabolic processes. Among them is insulin. A hormone that can reduce blood sugar levels. Another important substance is glucagon. The hormone provides an increase in the level of sugar. No less important is the production of gastrin. This hormone increases the production of pancreatic juice by the gland.

The following pancreatic departments are distinguished in anatomy:

• Head;
• Neck;
• body;
• tail.

The most commonly diagnosed tumor is the head of the pancreas.

Causes of pathology

A pancreatic tumor, the symptoms of which are clearly manifested in the last stages, is a malignant formation. Pathology is quite common in oncology. Because the iron has to increase the load. As a result, the body can not always cope with its basic functions.

The causes of the tumor in many clinical cases remain a mystery. However, physicians have identified factors that provide the conditions for the creation of cancer cells.

So, a malignant tumor of the pancreas can develop against the background:

1. Smoking . This is the very first factor that provokes the development of pathology. Aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbons contained in tobacco smoke are the strongest stimulant of tumor development. Almost one-third of all pancreatic cancer diseases are triggered by smoking.
2. The elderly . People after 60 years are more prone to the risk of pathology.
3. Sexual accessory . According to statistics, the tumor of this gland is more often diagnosed in men.
4. Diabetes mellitus . A high level of sugar can lead to the development of pancreatic cancer.
5. Chronic pancreatitis . Prolonged inflammation often becomes a predisposing factor to the development of the disease. Reactive changes in the pancreas, characteristic of pancreatitis, provoke swelling of the organ. The outflow of enzymes is difficult. Pancreatic juice, not trapped in the digestive tract, is detrimental to the tissues of the organ. As a result, the parenchyma of the pancreas is seriously disturbed.
6. Obesity . Overweight and related disorders in the body can become a source of cancer.
7. Incorrect nutrition . Abuse of carbohydrates, fats creates an increased strain on the body. As a result, the gland may fail. Food rich in fruits and vegetables significantly reduces the risk of a tumor.
8. Heredity . In the presence of relatives who have undergone this pathology, the risk of oncology of the gland increases significantly.

The first signs of the disease

It is very difficult to determine the period when the first problems with the pancreas arise. Symptoms may be unnoticeable until the onset of the 4th stage of oncology. And, unfortunately, this is not uncommon. Since only the pancreatic tumor that grows makes itself felt. Symptoms of pathology are provoked by the spread of cancer in other tissues.

However, there are signs that allow one to suspect the disease at an early stage. They are completely dependent on the localization of pathology.

Characterize the initial problems with the pancreas, the symptoms are as follows:

• Oncology of the head - weight loss, jaundice, fat in the stool, abdominal pain;
• Cancer of the body, tail - weight loss, discomfort in the abdomen.

The pathology developing in the head of the gland, makes itself felt much earlier than the oncology that has arisen in other departments of the pancreas.

Main features

Basically, if we talk about a pancreatic tumor, the symptoms can be observed as follows:

1. Pain discomfort in epigastrium . These are the very first complaints of the patient. Communication with food intake, as a rule, can not be traced. The pain is significantly worse at night. With the localization of pathologies in the head of the gland discomfort occurs in the right upper quadrant and the navel zone. If the tail, the body of the pancreas, is affected, the patient experiences pain in the waist, interscapular region. Discomfort when changing the position can change the intensity. Therefore, this pain is often mistakenly attributed to radiculitis.
2. Paraneoplastic signs . The patient experiences weakness, decreased appetite. Often there is an aversion to fatty, meat foods. The patient refuses from the favorite intoxications - caffeine, alcohol, tobacco. Characteristically manifested weight loss, sleep disturbance, Tissot syndrome (migratory thrombosis of peripheral veins).
3. Mechanical jaundice . There is a squeezing of the bile duct. As a result, the patient's urine and skin acquire a darker shade. Fecal masses lighten. There is a skin itch. Gallbladder to the touch is stretched, painless.
4. Violation of the digestion of food . Into the lumen of the intestine does not receive the necessary amount of enzymes and bile. As a consequence, the patient quickly loses weight. He has a tendency to diarrhea.
5. Feeling of heaviness . Squeezing of the duodenum causes the patient to feel full of stomach, even with a small amount of food eaten. Possible eructations are rotten. Sometimes vomiting is associated with food.
6. Bleeding . If the tumor sprouts through the walls of the stomach, the patient may have this symptom. It is characterized by vomiting with a gruel-like black mass or feces of coal-black color.
7. Symptoms of hypersplenism . They are manifested when the tumor is squeezed by the splenic vein. The patient develops leukopenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia. Perhaps an increase in the size of the spleen - splenomegaly.
8. Signs of diabetes . If insulin-producing islets are destroyed, the patient experiences characteristic symptoms. There is a strong thirst, itching of the skin and mucous membranes, dry mouth.
9. Ascites . This is a late sign of pathology. It indicates metastases in the peritoneum, portal vein.

Any of these symptoms can hardly be called specific for oncology. Therefore, the discomfort associated with the pancreas is a compelling reason to consult a doctor.

Methods of diagnosis

Only a test reveals a tumor.

Even despite the presence of symptoms (which can characterize another pathology), the following studies are carried out:

1. Ultrasound . It is a safe and highly informative method. Such a study allows to determine the presence of an inflammatory process, reactive changes in the pancreas, its condition. Ultrasound examination allows to identify a tumor, the size of which exceeds 2 cm. In addition, the study provides an idea of the level of echogenicity. At inspection the condition of such tissue, as a parenchyma of a pancreas is defined. Ultrasound can reveal its structural changes.
2. CT . The examination gives a description of the size, location of pathology, involvement of adjacent organs. The study is quite reliable when a tumor is detected from 3 cm. However, CT is associated with X-ray irradiation. Therefore, often it is not recommended.
3. MRI . The high informative value of the method is combined with less strain on the body.
4. Biopsy. This is the most reliable diagnosis of oncology. The study takes a specific area of the tumor, which is carefully studied under a microscope. Fence the necessary material in two ways. Under the supervision of ultrasound, a special needle is inserted into the area of the tumor. Can use endoscopic method. A special thin tube is inserted into the patient's mouth.
5. Blood test . In it, an increase in a certain substance is detected in oncology. However, such a characteristic may be a symptom of other diseases.

If a cancer cell is detected in a biopsy, the diagnosis is confirmed. However, to determine the stage of the disease will require additional tests: chest X-ray, ultrasound of the liver.

Treatment of pathology

This disease belongs to the most complex sections of oncology. Until today, doctors can not unequivocally answer how to cure the pancreas. Difficulties are associated with elderly patients. In addition, patients have a variety of concomitant diseases. Another factor hampering treatment is the definition of pathology in the later stages, when the tumor affects adjacent organs.

The main treatment is a surgical operation on the pancreas. The consequences of such intervention depend on many factors, the main one of which is the pathology stage.

Depending on the indications, other methods of treatment are applied:

• Palliative operations;
• radiation therapy;
• chemotherapy.

Surgery

The operation is the procedure of Will. The patient removes part of the gland containing the tumor. In addition to it, a part of the stomach, duodenum, gallbladder, lymph nodes that are located near the pancreas is subjected to the same procedure.

The need to remove such a number of organs is due to the anatomical location of the gland itself. The pancreas closely adjoins the abovementioned tissues. In connection with this, the tumor spreads very quickly to the adjacent organs. Their removal allows to stop the proliferation of pathology.

Unfortunately, only 10-25% of oncologists are recommended for pancreatic surgery. The consequences of surgical intervention do not exclude lethality.

At the same time statistics provides the following data, if we talk about patients with a diagnosis of "pancreatic cancer":

1. Without surgery, the average life expectancy of the patient is approximately 6 months.
2. After surgery, such a period increases, depending on the stage of pathology, up to 1.5-2 years.

Palliative surgery

They allow:

• Improve the quality of life;
• Eliminate pain discomfort;
• To fight with mechanical jaundice;
• Restore patency of the duodenum.

There are several methods by which a palliative surgery can be performed. The tumor of the pancreas, unfortunately, is not removed. However, the quality of life is improving somewhat.

The main methods include:

1. Endoscopic stent installation. In the lumen of the narrowed duct, a special tube or wire frame is inserted. He stretches the biliary tract. Thus, the functioning of the duct is restored. Bile is freely excreted.
2. Drainage installation. The meaning of the operation is similar to the previous one. Only the patency of the bile is not restored, but is output to the outside - in a specially designed bag.

Analgesics help combat pain. With severe discomfort, the patient is prescribed narcotic painkillers:

• Promedol.
• Morphine.
• "Omnipon".

Additional therapies

To combat pancreatic cancer patients can be treated with the following types of radiation therapy:

• Bremsstrahlung radiation;
• Remote gamma-therapy;
• By fast electron bombardment.

Radiation therapy can be performed before, after the operation, and sometimes instead of it. The patient's life expectancy is 12-13 months. If radiation therapy is combined with palliative surgery, the life expectancy is on average about 16 months.

Chemotherapy is used when it is not possible to carry out another treatment or to increase the effect of the therapy. Unfortunately, this method allows us to achieve only a partial regression of the neoplasm.

Prognosis of pathology

In most cases, the diagnosis is established in the advanced stage. The patient already has clinical manifestations of such a pathology as a pancreatic tumor. The prognosis of this disease is unfavorable.

Patients die from rapidly increasing intoxication, cachexia, intestinal obstruction, mechanical jaundice and a number of other complications.

After the surgical intervention, the five-year survival of patients (according to different authors) is 8-35%.

Prevention of pathology

How to cure the pancreas in oncology? Unfortunately, this is quite difficult. And sometimes it's impossible. That's why every effort should be made to avoid the disease.

For this, one should listen to simple recommendations:

1. Refuse to smoke.
2. Establish proper nutrition.
3. Exclude the harmful effects of the external environment (asbestos dust).
4. Timely cure diseases: pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus.
5. Systematically undergo preventive examinations, especially in the presence of cysts, burdened heredity.

Do not give a single chance of pathology to develop in your body. Be healthy!