Pancreatic cancer staging is done to know how far the cancer has spread. Staging is extremely important as treatment options are generally selected based on the pancreatic cancer stages. The diagnostic procedures help in identifying the stage of the disease. However, sometimes identifying the right stage of this cancer is not possible until a surgery is done. Staging of pancreatic cancer can be done in different ways; two of the most frequently used ways for determining stages of pancreatic...

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Diagnosis of pancreatic cancer at an early stage is quite difficult and rare too. The symptoms of the early stages of pancreatic cancer are subtle and nonspecific.  Some of the common symptoms of pancreatic cancer are discussed below:Yellow eyes and skin : Patients with pancreatic cancer often suffer from a condition called jaundice; jaundice is marked by yellowing of the patient’s eyes and skin. A patient gets jaundice when his or her blood has increased bilirubin levels. The level of...

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Surgery for pancreatic cancer can be of two types:

The potentially curative surgeries, which are recommended when the images obtained from diagnostic tests show that removing all cancer cells is possible. The palliative surgeries, which are usually recommended when the imaging tests reveal that the removing the entire tumor is not possible. This type of surgery is performed for relieving the symptoms of the disease and for preventing complications like blocking of intestinal tract and bile...

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Doctors prescribe pancreatic cancer treatment depending on which stage of the disease the patient is in and also the location of the cancer. The treatment options recommended by the doctor are also based on factors like general health condition, age and personal preference of the patient. The primary goal of any treatment for pancreatic cancer is eliminating the carcinoma cells. When eliminating cancer is not possible, the doctors aim at preventing growth of the cancer. When a patient is in...

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What is Pancreatic Cancer? It is a type of cancer that starts from the tissues of pancreas, the organ lying horizontally behind the stomach’s lower part. Pancreas is responsible for secreting hormones required for regulating the sugar metabolism and enzymes required for digestion. The survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients is quite low even if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage. According to the statistics, pancreas is placed 13th among sites of new cancer; and among causes of...

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Identifying the specific causes of pancreatic cancer is impossible. However, a few significant theories of cancer biology can help in finding out the factors leading to pancreatic cancer.

Basically, pancreatic cancer begins due to damage of DNA, scientifically referred to as mutations. The mutations are usually inherited from the parents and sometimes they are acquired by individuals as they grow older. Let us first get acquainted with the inherited mutations. Every person has 2 copies of...

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