What is Pancreatic Cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is perhaps the deadliest of all types of cancer. Only five out of a hundred people who suffer from it will survive for more than five years after the cancer has been diagnosed. In this article, we will discuss exactly what this is, some of the symptoms, and how to prevent the disease from occurring.

Your pancreas is an important gland organ in your digestive system. It helps both with both digestion, releasing digestive enzymes, as well as producing important hormones such as insulin, glucagon and somatostatin. When there is a malignant tumor found on someone's pancreas, they are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In the United States, about 33,000 individuals each year are diagnosed with this condition. In Europe, around 60,000 people suffer from from this cancer each year.

Often, this type of cancer goes undiagnosed for a while, because the symptoms are hard to identify. The common symptoms include upper abdominal pain, which spreads to the back and is only alleviated when the person leans forward.

Other symptoms include drastic weight-loss, lack of appetite, and suffering from jaundice, but feeling no pain from it.

There are certain factors which put you at risk for pancreatic cancer. Age, being male, smoking, having a diet high in meat, and being overweight. In addition, African ethnicities are at a higher risk, those who work around pesticides and chemicals related to gasoline, and those who have a family history of diseases associated with the pancreas.

The best way to prevent pancreatic cancer is avoiding the factors which tend to cause it. Among them, cigarette smoking seems to be the biggest trigger for it. One of the best ways to avoid this condition is to maintain an ideal body weight, and eat a healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, and little red meat. In addition, further studies are suggesting that taking vitamin D can reduce the risk of this type of cancer.

Typically, a patient diagnosed with pancreatic cancer only survives three to six months after the diagnosis. It has the highest fatality rate of all cancers, and in the United States, it is the fourth highest cancer killer.

In conclusion this is a very serious condition, and is often hard to identify. It is highly recommended to take advanced preventive measures by exercising, eating a healthy diet, and avoiding negative factors such as cigarette smoking, pesticides and chemicals found in gasoline to decrease the risk of this type of cancer.

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