A Practical Understanding of Usual Warnings Connected with Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer symptoms are often difficult to detect, making it even harder to diagnose this potentially deadly disease. It's important to remember that many of the indicators will not present themselves until after the disease is in an advanced stage. Keep reading for a list of possible signs.

Stomach Pains

Among the basic pancreatic cancer symptoms is a soreness or pain in the high abdomen. Patients often complain that the pain spreads through the area and around to their back. Many people going through this type of discomfort will often experience alleviation once they lean forward.

Pain is typically present in about 80% of patients with either local or metastatic forms of pancreatic cancer. The pain can sometimes be made worse by eating.

Weight Loss

Loss of appetite and subsequent weight loss are also common symptoms associated with pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, appetite loss and decreased weight are also symptoms associated with a number of other diseases and ailments, including digestive issues.

Painful or Painless Jaundice

Because pancreatic cancer can obstruct the bile duct - which runs partially through the pancreas head - jaundice is a common side effect. Tumors that occur on the head of the pancreas (happens in 60% of diagnosed cases) are usually the cause of jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and eyes.

Typically, jaundice for patients with pancreatic cancer is accompanied by dark urine and pruritus, or itching. Approximately half of pancreatic cancer patients with local forms of the disease experience painful jaundice while the other half with a curable or resectable lesion experience painless yellowing of the skin.

Trusseau Sign (Blood Clots)

Trusseau Sign is a secondary affliction that causes grumes or blood clots to develop in hepatic portal veins, abstruse veins and surface veins without warning. While not exclusive to patients with pancreatic cancer, it is often associated with the disease.

Clinical Depression

Though not as exhaustively accounted or referenced, depression is a subtle side effect of pancreatic cancer. The clinical depression often develops even before the disease is detected. Doctors and researchers are still unsure why or how the two connect.

How Pancreatic Cancer is Diagnosed

To properly diagnose pancreatic cancer, your doctor must either do a liver function test or check for certain markers, like CA19-9, which indicate the presence of pancreatic cancer when detected in high amounts. Most patients are not screened until the above symptoms are presented.

CT scans and ultrasounds are other common methods of detecting pancreatic cancer and used to detect visible tumors or lesions. An endoscopic ultrasound or biopsy can also be used to obtain and test tissue samples.

Early Screening for Pancreatic Cancer

If you have two or more immediate family members (or three or more extended relatives) who have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer symptoms, you should ask your doctor about early screening for the disease. Pancreatic cancer symptoms often don't present themselves until it is too late, making early screening critical for those at risk.

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