The incidence of pancreatic cancer in recent years has been on the rise worldwide, and the incidence and mortality rate of pancreatic cancer in the United States ranks fourth among male and female malignant tumors. According to statistics, the incidence of pancreatic cancer in Shanghai from 1972 to 1974 was 4.0/100,000 and 3.0/100,000 for men and women respectively, and rose to 10.3/100,000 and 10.0/100,000 respectively in 1997. The prognosis of pancreatic cancer is poor due to its atypical early symptoms and difficulty in diagnosis. The etiology of pancreatic cancer is not fully understood and may be related to smoking, diet, chronic pancreatitis, diabetes, gastric ulcer and gastrectomy, cholecystectomy and cholelithiasis, environmental pollution, genetic factors, genetic abnormalities and other factors. The early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is a difficult clinical problem. Because of the insidious onset and rapid progression of pancreatic cancer, the surgical resection rate is only 10% to 20%. Early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is extremely important to improve the long-term survival rate of patients. The most common first symptoms of pancreatic cancer are upper abdominal discomfort and vague pain. Patients with cancer of the head of the pancreas mostly have painless jaundice; patients with cancer of the tail of the pancreas often have significant pain in the upper abdomen and lower back. Most patients may experience loss of appetite and weight loss. Obstructive jaundice often continues to worsen progressively. Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer may develop upper abdominal masses, ascites, liver metastases, and concomitant diabetes mellitus. Surgery is still the first choice of treatment for pancreatic cancer, but because pancreatic cancer is often found in the middle and late stages, only about 15% of patients can undergo radical surgery, and postoperative treatment with chemotherapy and herbal medicine can improve the outcome. For patients in the middle and late stages, they can try chemotherapy, radiotherapy, Hepatitis B, Chinese medicine treatment and other integrated treatment methods to control the development of tumor, improve patients’ quality of life, reduce pain and prolong life, and even some patients can still hope to achieve long-term survival with tumor.