Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive, painful and deadly. “Most patients with pancreatic cancer die from this disease because the tumors are diagnosed late, when they are no longer curable,” according to reports from the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.
In this regard, the position of the pancreas in the body, behind stomach and colon and in close contact with important abdominal structures such as the duodenum, the bile duct, the intestinal arteries and veins, the aorta, etc., makes the tumor invades other organs and spreads rapidly.
Very low life expectancy
The survival rate for pancreatic cancer is the lowest of all cancers. Among men it is only 7% while in women it is 10%. This data contrasts with other cancers such as prostate and testicles (90% survival rate among men) or that of mama (86% among women).
Fortunately, It is not one of the most frequent cancers in Spain: Pancreatic cancer will affect 9,280 people in our country this year 2023, the seventh with the highest incidence, but growing. Last year the number affected was somewhat lower (9,252 people).
“Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer They usually have a very short life expectancy.of an approximate average of nine months”, according to the profesor Thomas Brabletz, head of experimental medicine at the Nikolaus-Fiebiger Center for Molecular Medicine at the German University of Erlangen-Nuernberg.
Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer typically have a life expectancy of nine months.
This is due, according to the expert, to a combination of two main factors: usually detected late because it does not present symptoms until the tumor is advanced and it is also a type of cancer that begins to metastasize very soon.
Illustrious characters such as Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple), the tenor Luciano Pavarotti, the actor Patrick Swyze or the Spanish singer Rocío Jurado died of this lethal cancer.
Symptoms
The most common symptoms are weight loss and jaundice. The tumor is frequently located in the pancreatic head. At this level, invades the bile duct very soonwhich causes the interruption of the flow of bile from the liver to the intestine, thereby the patient turns “yellow” and often has generalized itchingdue to the lack of elimination of bile salts, they explain on the website of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.
Back painat the theoretical height of the stomach, is another frequent symptom, especially in tumors that affect the body of the pancreas, and is a sign of infiltration of the nerve plexuses and, therefore, of bad prognosis.
Third deadliest cancer in Europe
As reflected in the report European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2023 with focus on lung cancer published in the specialized media Annals of Oncology“pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death and the only one showing a continued lack of progress.”
Factors that influence pancreatic cancer are smoking, mainly, but also overweight, obesity and diabetesas well as a large consumption of alcohol.
