"I thought I was just old and my waist was not good, who would have thought that this was pancreatic cancer!" Facing the signal that the body had already given cancer, Aunt Zhu said regretfully.
Aunt Zhu, 55 years old this year, often fell in love with square dancing after retirement, half a year ago, Aunt Zhu began to have back pain, but she thought she was just old, dancing too often.
After that, she consciously reduced the number of dances, but the back pain was not relieved, but became more and more serious, recently it was so painful that it was difficult to sleep in the middle of the night, her appetite became poor, she was prone to nausea and vomiting when she ate, and Aunt Zhu's weight dropped a lot for no reason.
The daughter, who had not seen her for a long time, went home to visit her mother, and was shocked to see that she had lost a lot of weight, so she quickly took her to the hospital for examination, and after examination, Aunt Zhu was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the middle and advanced stages.
1. Pancreatic cancer is found to be in the middle and advanced stages, and the four culprits cannot be ignored?
Pancreatic cancer is one of the common malignant tumors of the digestive tract, and it is also one of the most dangerous cancers among all cancers.
Chen Rufu, director of the Pancreas Center of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, pointed out that the incidence of pancreatic cancer has gradually increased in the past 20 years, with a mortality rate of 95% and a survival rate of only 5% within five years. Compared with the overall survival rate of 40.5% for other cancers, pancreatic cancer is the gastrointestinal malignancy with the worst prognosis.
The reason why pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose is first of all related to its insidious location. As the largest gland in the human body, the pancreas is located in the retroperitoneum of the epigastric region, across the 1st ~ 2nd lumbar intervertebrae, and its head, neck, body and tail are located on the right side of the midline, the left side of the midline, adjacent to the greater curvature of the stomach, the hilum of the spleen and the hilum of the left kidney.
Because of its unique location, many early symptoms can be mistaken for digestive tract diseases, and by the time the symptoms are obvious, the disease has often progressed to an advanced stage, and the pancreas is very close to the digestive tract, and it is easy to metastasize to the digestive tract to form other tumors after cancer cells appear in the pancreas, and even if pancreatic cancer is found, it is difficult to perform radical surgery because the location is too deep and the surrounding blood vessels are abundant.
Wang Chengfeng, chief physician of the Department of Pancreatic and Gastric Surgery of the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said that there are four main types of high-risk factors that induce pancreatic cancer:
The first is long-term bad lifestyle habits, such as poor diet, smoking, alcoholism, staying up late, etc.; second, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes and benign diseases of the digestive tract after surgical treatment; third, genetic factors, studies have found that about 10% of pancreatic cancer occurs due to genetics; fourth, people aged > 50 years old are high-risk groups for pancreatic cancer.
2. Attention: There is a sign of low back pain or pancreatic cancer
When it comes to back pain, most people's reaction is orthopedic disease, why does pancreatic cancer also cause back pain?
Pancreatic cancer is a retroperitoneal organ with only a small amount of fat and a back behind it. When the pancreas is cancerous in the area close to the back, the retroperitoneal plexus will be invaded and compressed, which will cause radiation and referred pain in the lower back.
Unlike ordinary low back pain, radiating low back pain caused by pancreatic cancer does not affect the normal movement of the joints and cannot be relieved with medication or external application.
In addition to low back pain, there are other typical symptoms of early-stage pancreatic cancer. Lin Fen from the First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District published an article reminding that when the following 4 symptoms appear in the body, don't take it seriously.
Mid-upper quadrant pain: About half of pancreatic cancer patients will present with the abdomen as the first symptom, mostly manifested as persistent, progressively worsening mid-upper quadrant pain, more severe pain at night, and the symptoms are relieved when the knee is bent and lying down. This is because lesions in the pancreas cause blockage of the pancreatic ducts and bile ducts, which in turn causes excessive pressure in the biliary tract.
Jaundice: 90% of pancreatic cancer patients will have jaundice symptoms because lesions in the pancreas compress the common bile duct, causing bile to flow into the intestine properly. A large amount of bile will flow to the whole body with blood circulation, resulting in abnormal yellowing of the skin, iris, and urine.
Sudden increase in blood sugar: The pancreas will affect the normal secretion of insulin, and if there is an abnormal increase in blood sugar for no reason, and it cannot be relieved by taking medication, it is likely to be caused by a problem with the pancreas.
Anorexia, nausea, vomiting with weight loss: Pancreatic cancer can block the common bile duct and pancreatic duct, resulting in the inability of bile and pancreatic juice to enter the duodenum normally to assist digestion, which will cause patients to have abnormal anorexia, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms, and weight loss will also be obvious.
3. Pancreatic cancer that cannot be provoked, do these 4 points to help prevent it
Although pancreatic cancer is terrible, its occurrence is not unpreventable, we can change it from some details of life, and doing these few things well will help a lot to prevent pancreatic cancer.
1. Quit smoking and limit alcohol
The risk of pancreatic cancer is 2.2 times higher in smokers than in non-smokers, and excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk by 1.2 times.
2. Control your weight
Studies have found that a 5-fold increase in body mass index increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, and a 10-centimeter increase in waist circumference increases the risk of pancreatic cancer by 1.1-fold. To prevent pancreatic cancer, it is important to control weight, which can be controlled through measures such as healthy diet and active exercise.
3. Eat a healthy diet
Daily diet should pay attention to avoid overeating, when overeating, the pancreas needs to secrete a large amount of pancreatic juice to assist digestion. Over time, the pancreas will be overloaded, which can easily induce pancreatic damage and lead to chronic pancreatitis. However, chronic pancreatitis has no active intervention and has a greater risk of developing into pancreatic cancer. In addition to avoiding overeating, it is important to eat a balanced diet and reduce the intake of foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
4. Regular physical examination
For people at high risk of pancreatic cancer, such as those who are > 40 years old, have a family history of pancreatic cancer, smoke and drink alcohol for a long time, have an unhealthy diet, and suffer from chronic pancreatitis. It is recommended to perform CA199, CA125, CEA and other tumor marker examinations once a year, and cooperate with abdominal CT and MRI examinations, and further examination should be carried out in time once abnormalities are found.
The mortality rate of pancreatic cancer is very high, so we must pay enough attention to this, pay more attention to physical performance on a daily basis, and seek medical attention in time after discovering abnormalities.
Resources:
[1] "Pancreatic cancer is at an advanced stage as soon as it is found?These 4 symptoms appear, you should seek medical attention in time", Nandu Jianwen 2023-11-10
[2] "[Health Encyclopedia] Unveiling the Mystery of Pancreatic Cancer". Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital 2023-09-05
[3] "The King of Cancer" - Pancreatic Cancer, Shenzhen Health Management Association, 2023-10-28
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