pancreas diseases : Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect and diagnose because:

There aren’t any noticeable signs or symptoms in the early stages of pancreatic cancer

The signs of pancreatic cancer, when present, are like the signs of many other illnesses

The pancreas is hidden behind other organs (such as the stomach, small intestine, liver, gallbladder, spleen and bile ducts)
Difficult to diagnose and equally difficult to treat, pancreatic cancer is often aggressive, making it the fifth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., and the cancer with the highest fatality rate. Of the estimated 29,000 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer annually, only one in five with cancer of the exocrine pancreas will live more than one year. Of these, just 15 percent will survive five years. While surgery is a patient’s best hope, it is only an option for those whose cancer is confined to the pancreas. For optimal patient outcomes, physician consults and patient evaluations should be initiated as soon as pancreatic cancer is suspected.

© Georgetown University Hospital