As we know, the difficulty of detecting pancreatic cancer early enough causes a high mortality rate. With that in mind, let’s look at warning signs of pancreatic cancer.
Be Alert for Early Warning Signs of Pancreatic Cancer
Yesterday, the New York Times published a terrific article on this topic by Jane E. Brody:
Although pancreatic cancer is a relatively rare cancer, it is on track to become the country’s second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths by 2040. Currently, it accounts for about 3 percent of all cancers and 7 percent of cancer deaths. Overall, only one person in 10 diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survives five years. A cure is almost always a lucky accident, when the cancer is detected at an early, symptom-free stage during an unrelated abdominal scan or surgery and the tumor can be surgically removed.
Some Highlights from the Article
- Risk factors — Smoking doubles the risk and accounts for about a quarter of all cases. Being obese, gaining excess weight as an adult, and carrying extra weight around the waist, even if not otherwise very overweight, also increase one’s risk.
- Diabetes as an early warning sign — An early cancer in the pancreas doesn’t produce a lesion that can be felt. And it rarely causes symptoms that might prompt a definitive medical work-up. UNTIL it escapes the confines of the pancreas and spreads elsewhere. But scientists are studying one possible early warning sign: a link between pancreatic cancer and newly developed Type 2 diabetes. Some research suggests that the recent development of Type 2 diabetes may herald the existence of cancer hidden in this organ.
- New developments in cancer research — For several examples of research results as to early detection, click the image to read the full article.
