When it comes to digestion and absorption organs, the first thing that comes to mind is the stomach and intestines.
But in fact, the entire process of food digestion and absorption, although it is completed in the digestive tract, but at the same time the digestive system also involves multiple organs, including the pancreas.
The pancreas is a very special organ, its size is small, the shape is narrow, in the deepest part of the human abdominal cavity, very close to the stomach.
Moreover, the pancreas not only undertakes the secretion of digestive enzymes, but also has the function of islets.
It is affected by the location and function of the pancreas, once the pancreas becomes cancerous, its developmental symptoms are not typical, most patients think that they are just suffering from ordinary chronic stomach diseases, and then miss the best time to diagnose pancreatic cancer.
Not only that, the degree of malignancy of pancreatic cancer is extremely high, and the survival rate in the late stage is quite low. Relevant data surveys show that the survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients within five years is less than 1%, which is the malignant tumor with the worst prognosis effect.
Its incidence and death rate is almost positive, so pancreatic cancer is also known as the "king of cancer".
However, pancreatic cancer also has the characteristics of other cancers, that is, the earlier the cancer is detected, the better the prognosis will be.
Even if clinical cure cannot be achieved, after scientific treatment of pancreatic cancer, the survival time and quality of life of patients will be significantly improved.
So the question is, what are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer? What are the manifestations that the body warns?
1. Inexplicable stomach pain
Recently, I often feel that there is a vague pain, dull pain or tingling sensation near the stomach, but I can't say the specific pain feeling and location, and there is no relief after taking drugs and analgesic drugs for the treatment of stomach disease, and the pain gradually deepens and the pain time is getting longer and longer, which may be related to pancreatic cancer.
In clinical view, pain is the most important symptom of pancreatic cancer, no matter where the specific cancerous area of the pancreas is, it can produce pain, this pain is mainly concentrated in the middle upper quadrant, left and right upper abdomen;
2. Jaundice needs to be vigilant
Affected by the high incidence of hepatobiliary diseases, many people arbitrarily believe that as long as jaundice occurs, it is a lesion of the liver or gallbladder. In fact, pancreatic cancer can also cause jaundice. Among all pancreatic cancer patients in China, more than 1/2 of the patients have pancreatic head cancer.
Above the pancreatic head, there is a common bile duct through, when the cancer develops to a serious degree, after violating or compressing the common bile duct, obstructive progressive jaundice can occur, mainly manifested as yellowing of the skin throughout the body, dark yellow of the urine and clay colored stool, nearly 25% of patients have jaundice at the same time, but also combined with systemic skin itching;
3. Digestive tract abnormalities
In addition to abdominal pain, pancreatic cancer will also have typical, similar to the performance of chronic gastrointestinal diseases, the most common symptoms of which are loss of appetite, anorexia, followed by nausea and vomiting, diarrhea or constipation.
The reason for this is related to the decline in the function of the pancreas itself, abnormal secretion of digestive enzymes, and the influence on the normal discharge of bile. Patients with pancreatic cancer after entering advanced stages, due to the inability of digestive enzymes to work properly, will also experience steatosis after eating greasy foods;
4. Abnormal emaciation
Wasting is a common feature of all solid malignant tumors, but most of the emaciation caused by cancer actually occurs in the advanced and terminal stages of cancer, while pancreatic cancer is completely different.
In its early stages, patients may have significant symptoms of wasting, progressive fatigue, and exhaustion, which are associated with decreased digestive function and symptomatic hyperglycemia.
Written at the end: The symptoms of pancreatic cancer are diverse, but none of them are specific, and most of them have no obvious symptoms at the beginning of cancer.
Therefore, in the clinical view, people at high risk of pancreatic cancer (with family history, chronic pancreatic disease history, obesity, and diabetes history) should not only pay attention to physical changes, but also regular targeted anti-cancer screening is also necessary.