The pancreas has both endocrine and exocrine functions, which means that it has both endocrine and exocrine cells. It is an important digestive gland in the body. The exocrine is the pancreas, which contains a variety of digestive enzymes that break down and digest proteins, sugars and fats in the body.
The endocrine is the islets, which mainly secrete insulin and can participate in mediating the body’s sugar metabolism. Carcinoma derived from endocrine cells, called neuroendocrine carcinoma, is relatively rare and in most cases has a lower malignancy and longer course. In contrast, cancer from exocrine cells, which is often referred to as pancreatic cancer, is a tumor with a higher degree of malignancy.
Pancreatic cancer, the “hidden gentleman”!
Pancreatic cancer is a kind of cancer that is difficult to detect in the early stage and is often found late. Usually, the average time from diagnosis to death is only 3-6 months. Once detected clinically, 80% of the cases are already in advanced stage, so the treatment effect is very poor, and even after receiving treatment, such as surgery or chemotherapy, the mortality rate is extremely high.
Due to the deep location of the pancreas in the body, it is also difficult to be detected in the early stage. More importantly, the early symptoms of pancreatic cancer are not obvious, some patients only show loss of appetite or weight loss, some patients have abdominal pain and back pain, but sometimes the pain area is not typical, so they may be misdiagnosed as gastritis or cholecystitis.
Which people are prone to get pancreatic cancer?
1. People who drink alcohol for a long time
Alcohol can make the pancreatic tissue fibrosis and lead to chronic pancreatitis, thus increasing the incidence of pancreatic cancer.
2. Long-term smokers
Nitrosamines in cigarette are carcinogenic substances, which are activated after inhalation by blood transport to the liver and secreted into the bile ducts, and then backflow into the pancreatic ducts; in addition, smoking increases the concentration of blood lipids and promotes pancreatic cancer. Smokers may be prone to cancer due to low cell methylation levels.
3.Diabetic patients
Insulin can promote the growth of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro or in vivo; high concentration of insulin can activate insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor and produce growth-promoting effects including cell cycle process alteration.
4.Patients with chronic pancreatitis
Patients with chronic pancreatitis will be more likely to develop pancreatic cancer if they neglect treatment.
How to prevent pancreatic cancer?
The increased incidence of pancreatic cancer is closely related to poor lifestyle and unreasonable nutrition, such as smoking, excessive intake of fat and protein in the diet, alcohol abuse, etc. Therefore, in order to avoid or reduce the incidence of pancreatic cancer, it is necessary to take into account the needs of the patients. Therefore, in order to avoid or reduce the occurrence of pancreatic cancer, we should do the following
1. Quit drinking alcohol: Reducing alcohol consumption, especially drinking less and not drinking beverages with high alcohol content can avoid pancreatitis and may also avoid or reduce the possibility of pancreatic cancer.
2. Quit smoking: Those who start smoking when they are teenagers are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
3, low-fat, low-protein, high-fiber diet: A large increase in sugar and high-calorie diet will increase the chances of pancreatic cancer. In addition, to reduce the consumption of coffee, especially to avoid decaffeinated coffee.
4.Reduce environmental pathogenic factors: Avoid long-term exposure to substances related to the occurrence of pancreatic cancer, such as certain metals, coke, gas, β-naphtholamine, benzidine, methylcholanthrene, N-nitrosomethylamine, acetylaminofluorene and hydrocarbons, and take good protective measures as much as possible.
5.Regular check-up: early detection and early treatment.