Pancreatic Cancer

How Serious is a Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer?

The chances of surviving from pancreatic cancer depend on the identification of the symptoms.

If pancreatic cancer is diagnosed at an early stage the chances of survival are much higher.

However, in the majority of the cases, this cancer is identified in its late stages making the survival rate much lower.

There are hardly any symptoms in the initial stage that could indicate pancreatic cancer.

However, there are symptoms that appear in the beginning that could indicate pancreatic cancer and should be looked at by a doctor.

Why is Pancreatic Cancer dangerous?

According to the statistics, the survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 5% for the period of five years which means that there are only five percent of the patients who after the diagnosis survive for five years.

Moreover the best option to treat pancreatic cancer is the process of surgery in which the tumor is removed from the body but there are only 15 % of the patients who qualify for the surgery.

In the rest of the patients, the tumor has spread in the body and the surgery cannot be applied.

Pancreatic cancer is considered as one of the most fatal diseases because of its deadly features, time, money and the sufferings associated with it.

Symptoms:

The symptoms caused by pancreatic cancer are hard to detect.

Common symptoms include: eyes becoming yellow, light stool, dark urine, abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, bloating, loss of appetite, diarrhea, back pain and swelling of the lymph nodes.

In addition to these symptoms the blood sugar level might also go up. If any of these symptoms occur it is mandatory to consult a doctor.

These are some of the most common symptoms of pancreatic cancer. Once the cancer has entered into the advanced stages it becomes extremely difficult to treat.

There are some exceptional cases that survive pancreatic cancer but these numbers are very low.

Treatment:

Once the pancreatic cancer is diagnosed, the patients go through surgery to have the tumor removed from their body.

Afterwards patients have to undergo chemotherapy, which is quite a painful experience. Chemotherapy is done to burn the excess cells that have been left in the body.

Usually these cells have transferred to other areas of the body and do not die out making the treatment much more painful for the patient.

If pancreatic cancer is detected in the early stages then the treatment is a lot more successful. Successful treatment requires an early diagnosis.