Today I saw an article about pancreatic cancer introduced by Phoenix Health, and I would like to share it with you]
After the improvement of living standard, the incidence of pancreatic cancer in China has increased, but due to the hidden location of the pancreas, the symptoms of early pancreatic cancer are not typical and obvious, and most of the patients are in advanced stage when they are found, so the treatment effect is not ideal. Experts suggest that people with long-term high-fat and high-protein diet, smoking and drinking should also consider pancreatic ultrasound examination during physical examination.
Nie Yuqiang, M.D., director of the Department of Gastroenterology at Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, said the pancreas can be considered a “silent” organ in the human body. This is because of its hidden location: the pancreas is a long, thin organ behind the peritoneum, only two or three centimeters wide, the pancreas and the stomach, duodenum, liver, gallbladder and other organs adjacent, from the front view “hiding” in the back of the stomach, against the back; from the back view, there are lumbar muscles, spine and other obscured. In the general medical examination, gastroscopy, liver and gallbladder ultrasound are common items, but few people will remember to take an ultrasound of the pancreas. Zhang Zhaolan, Department of Spleen, Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
The pancreatic juice secreted by the pancreas contains several digestive enzymes that play a leading role in the digestion of food and are particularly important in the digestion of fat. In addition, the hormones secreted by the endocrine cells in the pancreas are responsible for regulating the physiological functions of the body. If these cells are diseased and secrete too much or not enough of the substance, the body will become ill. Eighty percent of pancreatic cancers are found to be in advanced stages
In recent years, Pavarotti, Shen Tianxia and other “heavyweight” stars have passed away due to pancreatic cancer, and pancreatic cancer has started to attract people’s attention. However, there is still a problem that plagues the medical profession: how to detect pancreatic cancer at an early stage? According to Nie Yuqiang, the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer mainly relies on imaging means, but because of the hidden location, early pancreatic cancer is difficult to be detected during physical examination, while the pancreas itself is not rich in nerves, early tumors do not cause pain and lack of typical symptoms. Most patients just have digestive symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, and abdominal pain when eating (caused by pancreatic secretion of digestive enzymes that irritate the pancreatic duct), which can easily be mistaken for stomach disease. “Unless the tumor grows at the end connected to the bile duct and causes obstructive jaundice, such patients still have the possibility of early detection and can have the tumor surgically removed. Otherwise, early stage pancreatic cancer is very difficult to be detected.” Many patients only discover their condition when the tumor presses on the nerves around the pancreas and feels severe abdominal pain at an advanced stage.
On the other hand, because the width of the pancreas is small and the surrounding blood vessels are rich, the tumor can easily grow beyond the pancreas and metastasize to the surrounding organs. This makes pancreatic cancer “difficult to detect and easy to metastasize”. According to Nie Yuqiang, 80% of the pancreatic cancer patients found clinically are already in advanced stage, and many of them have already metastasized when they are found, because pancreatic cancer is not sensitive to chemotherapy and the treatment effect is not very satisfactory, so the survival period of these patients rarely exceeds half a year. Therefore, pancreatic cancer is considered to be a highly malignant tumor of the digestive tract, with a 5-year survival rate of only 3%, and is known as the “king of cancers”. The pancreas is “tired” of high-fat and high-protein diet
Nie Yuqiang said, due to different dietary habits, the incidence of pancreatic cancer in China has always been lower than in Western countries, “but in recent years, after the improvement of living standards, our incidence of pancreatic cancer has risen”. He said a long-term high-fat, high-protein diet is an important risk factor for pancreatic cancer. “If you eat more, the pancreas has to secrete more digestive enzymes; if you “work” more, the pancreatic cells will easily make mistakes when dividing and produce cancer cells, and if you continue to stimulate the pancreas for a long time, these cancer cells cannot be recognized and destroyed by the body’s immune system and will form tumors.”
In addition, smoking and drinking, obesity and diabetes are also risk factors for pancreatic cancer. Chronic pancreatitis left untreated for a long time may also develop into pancreatic cancer. “But this is still controversial in the medical community, because it is possible that some “chronic pancreatitis” is actually early pancreatic cancer.”
Because pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect at an early stage, Nie Yuqiang suggested that people with the above risk factors and those with family history should have an ultrasound to check the pancreas, liver and gallbladder in addition to a gastrointestinal examination during a routine physical examination or when symptoms such as upper abdominal discomfort, nausea and vomiting occur.