Early in the morning of September 6, 2007, Pavarotti, the famous Italian tenor singer who is known as the King of the World, died of pancreatic cancer. It is reported that Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in mid-2006 and underwent surgery, which once again sounded the alarm for us to beware of pancreatic cancer “sneak attack”. The pancreas is a very small and inconspicuous organ located deep in the upper abdomen of our body. Although the pancreas is small, it plays an extraordinary role, and its physiological role and pathological changes are closely related to human life. Among them, pancreatic cancer is even more “colorful”, and in recent years, it has replaced liver cancer as the “king of cancers”, and has been listed as the “stubborn fortress of the 21st century” by the international health sector. Pancreatic cancer is an extremely dangerous and highly malignant digestive tract tumor. Its incidence rate used to account for only 1% of malignant tumors, but in recent years, it has become the malignant tumor with the most obvious increase in incidence rate. The annual incidence rate of pancreatic cancer in China is 5.1/100,000, which is significantly higher than that of 20 years ago. Due to the lack of early diagnostic methods, early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is difficult, and it is difficult to get early treatment. When pancreatic cancer is diagnosed, it has been widely metastasized and the surgical resection rate is low. The prognosis of pancreatic cancer is extremely poor. According to the report of National Institutes of Health, the 1-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is 8%, the 5-year survival rate is 3%, the median survival period is only 6-10 months, and those with metastasis are only 3-6 months. Our surgical statistics show that the 5-year survival rate is around 5%. Early pancreatic cancer “clues” Because people are not familiar with the pancreas as an organ, and it is hidden in the back of the abdominal cavity, in the early stage of pancreatic cancer, it is very difficult to feel the mass by hand. In the early stage of pancreatic cancer, it is difficult to feel the mass by hand. In addition, people don’t know much about some early symptoms of pancreatic cancer, and it is easy to be confused with other diseases. Therefore, the diagnosis is often delayed. Although the early symptoms of pancreatic cancer lack of specificity, as long as we are vigilant, we can still find some “clues” in the early stage. It is generally believed that patients over 40 years old should consider the possibility of pancreatic cancer if they have the following clinical manifestations: 1. Jaundice Cancer occurring in the head of pancreas will develop jaundice at an early stage. Jaundice will deepen day by day, and the patient’s feces will be potter’s clay color, and the skin will be itchy. Serum bilirubin is obviously elevated, while transaminases are often only mildly elevated. Therefore, if the jaundice is very deep and the transaminase is less than 400 units, it should be highly suspected to be obstructive jaundice, and should not be easily treated as hepatitis. Abdominal pain If the cancer occurs in the body of pancreas and the tail of pancreas, dull or hidden abdominal pain will appear very early, and the patients often can’t tell the specific part. In addition, the abdominal pain of pancreatic cancer has nothing to do with diet, but has a certain relationship with body position. The pain is aggravated when lying on the back and stretching the ridge, and the patient often tosses and turns at night, and squatting, sitting in forward position and lying on the knees can reduce the abdominal pain. 3.Wasting Although pancreatic cancer is hidden, the consumption caused by it cannot be concealed. About 80% of the patients have striking weight loss, and they can lose 30 kilograms in a few months, and gradually become malignant. Rapid wasting is due to the following reasons in addition to the consumption of the cancer: eating less; insufficient secretion of pancreatic fluid affecting the digestion and absorption of food; and the occurrence of secondary diabetes mellitus. In addition, there are symptoms such as recent steatorrhea or sudden aggravation of diabetes mellitus, enlarged gallbladder, abdominal mass, fever, upper gastrointestinal bleeding and so on. Second, pancreatic cancer is easy to favor which people Current research shows that pancreatic cancer exists in high-risk groups, for which screening and monitoring can detect pancreatic cancer as early as possible, making early diagnosis possible. Pancreatic cancer favors the following people: (1) patients who are older than 40 years old and have non-specific symptoms in the upper abdomen; (2) high-risk factors of pancreatic cancer include smoking, heavy drinking and long-term exposure to harmful chemicals; (3) people with family history of pancreatic cancer, some people think that genetic factors account for 5%-10% in the incidence of pancreatic cancer; (4) patients with chronic pancreatitis, which is now considered to be an important precancerous factor among some of the patients; (5) patients with pancreatic cancer. patients is an important precancerous lesion, especially chronic familial pancreatitis and chronic calcific pancreatitis; (5) benign lesions have undergone distal gastric resection, especially more than 20 years after the operation, the incidence rate of pancreatic cancer increased 1.5-5 times; (6) patients with sudden onset of diabetes mellitus, especially atypical diabetes mellitus, age of 60 years old or more, lack of family history, no obesity, and quickly form insulin resistance. 40% of the pancreatic cancer patients have a family history of diabetes mellitus. (6) Patients with sudden diabetes, especially those with atypical diabetes, age over 60, lack of family history, obesity, and insulin resistance. 40% of pancreatic cancer patients have diabetes at the time of diagnosis; (7) internal papillary mucinous neoplasia is also a pre-cancerous lesion; (8) familial adenomatous polyposis is higher than that of the normal population. Treatment of pancreatic cancer The first choice of treatment for pancreatic cancer is surgical resection, but the resection rate is low because most of them cannot be detected at an early stage, and the resection rate is 5%～15%. Chemotherapy is an important part of comprehensive treatment, and commonly used drugs include Kenzai, 5-FU, mitomycin, epothilone, cyclophosphamide, carboplatin and so on. Radiation therapy alone can improve patients’ clinical symptoms, especially abdominal pain and back pain, but it has limited effect on prolonging the survival time of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The role of TCM in relieving and controlling their symptoms, improving patients’ quality of life, and prolonging survival time is also certain. At present, the combination of targeted therapy (e.g. Sorafenib, etc.) and traditional chemotherapy has opened up a new way for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, showing a bright therapeutic prospect. Prevention of pancreatic cancer must start from life and dietary habits. First of all, avoid eating a lot of high-fat, high-protein and high-sugar food for a long time, which will increase the burden of pancreas and lead to the proliferation, degeneration and cancer of the corresponding cells. Animal experiments have proved that high-fat diet is related to pancreatic cancer; eating less high-fat, high-oil and multi-salt food can reduce the occurrence of pancreatic cancer by 2/3. More fresh fruits and fresh vegetables should be eaten, and the daily diet needs to pay attention to keeping coarse roots such as cereals, beans and sweet potatoes. Experiments have proved that people who have high fiber, fruits and fresh vegetables in their diet structure are less likely to develop pancreatic cancer. One of the vitamins and trace elements can fight free radicals and antioxidants, which is beneficial to cancer prevention. Secondly, quit smoking and do not abuse alcohol. Smoking may increase the prevalence of pancreatic cancer, because nicotine can affect pancreatic secretion, which in turn occurs pancreatic duct epithelial lesions, inhalation of smoke, can be active metabolism resulting in pancreatic cancer. Some data show that among smokers and drinkers, the incidence rate of pancreatic cancer is 2 to 2.5 times that of non-smokers and drinkers, and the age of onset is 10 to 15 years earlier. Finally, actively prevent and treat diseases related to pancreatic cancer. It is found that chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer are closely related. Chronic pancreatitis can stimulate the proliferation of pancreatic tissues, and the incidence rate of pancreatic cancer in patients with chronic pancreatitis is 100 times higher than that in the general population. Patients suffering from gallbladder disease, such as bile backflow to the pancreas, which contains more carcinogenic substances, is related to the formation of pancreatic cancer; patients who have removed the gallbladder may also have a similar situation. Diabetic patients are a sign of long-term pancreatic dysfunction, which produces chronic irritation of pancreatic cells, which, if not protected, may eventually lead to cancer.