Hello steemians !
I am back with very new and interesting topic. Today I will be discussing pancreatic cancer which has the lowest survival rate .
In U.S , almost 50,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year.
According to the American Cancer Society, one-year survival rate is 20% and five-year survival rate is 7 %
These data might have made you clear that pancreatic cancer is common and dreadful.
WHAT IS PANCREAS?
Pancreas is a Glandular organ. It serves both endocrine( releases hormone insulin , glucagon and somatostatin ) and exocrine functions( releases digestive enzyme ).
Here we are mostly concerned about its anatomy rather than physiology. It is about 6 inches in length located in the C- shaped loop of duodenum behind stomach. Anatomically it consists of Head, Neck , Body and Tail.
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WHAT MAKES PANCREATIC CANCER SO DREADFUL?
Pancreatic cancer is diagnosed at very late stage. This is due to a fact that in the early stage it does not present with any sign and symptoms. Many characteristics sign and symptoms ( discussed later ) develops when tumor size is significantly large.
Also ,Pancreas is located close to the vital organs.So, it metastasizes (spread ) to these organs like liver ( most common), GI tracts , lungs etc.
So , doctor often diagnose it when it has already reached a more advanced form. In 70 % of the case, it has already spread to other organs by the time patient is diagnosed.
Even pancreatic cancer is detected early , they tend to be very aggressive .
Basically, death of the patient in pancreatic cancer is due to spread to the liver. That's why patients don't survive after being removal of more than 95 % pancreatic cells and cancerous cells by surgery.
SYMPTOMS OF PANCREATIC CANCER
Most important symptoms includes - weight loss , abdominal pain , yellowish discoloration of skin , nausea , vomiting etc.
SO, WHAT IS THE OVERALL SURVIVAL RATE ?
Before knowing the survival rate it is very much essential to know the stage of pancreatic cancer. Survival rate depends upon the stage of cancer.
1. 5 YEAR SURVIVAL RATE FOR EXOCRINE PANCREATIC CANCER-
- survival rate with stage 1A Is 14% and with stage 1B is 12 %.
- survival rate with stage II A is 7 % and with stage II B is 5 %.
- survival rate with stage III is 3%.
- survival rate with stage IV is 1 %.
2. 5 YEAR SURVIVAL RATE FOR NEUROENDOCRINE PANCREATIC CANCER(NET)-
The data is only available for the patients treated with surgery.
- survival rate with stage I is 61%.
- survival rate with stage II is 41 %.
- survival rate with stage III is 41 %.
- survival rate with stage IV is 16 %.
All these statistics are taken from American Cancer Society
RISK FACTOR
Smoking and family history is most common risk factor.
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PREVENTION
There is no definitive prevention .It is essential to avoid risk factor most importantly quit smoking .
Healthy diet and physical exercise is must essential.
Thanks for reading .
DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW , RESTEEM AND UPVOTE
