PANCREATIC CANCER

WHAT IS PANCREATIC CANCER?

The pancreas secretes enzymes that aid digestion and hormones that help regulate the metabolism of sugars.

SYMPTOMS:

• Significant weight loss: Characteristic feature of pancreatic cancer
• Midepigastric pain: Common symptom of pancreatic cancer, sometimes with radiation of the pain to the midback or lower-back region
• Often, unrelenting pain: Nighttime pain often a predominant complaint
• Onset of diabetes mellitus within the previous year
• Painless obstructive jaundice: Most characteristic sign of cancer of head of the pancreas
• Pruritus: Often the patient's most distressing symptom
• Depression
• Migratory thrombophlebitis (ie, Trousseau sign) and venous thrombosis: May be the first presentation