Pancreatic Cancer Treatment In India For Highest Success Rate
Do you know advanced pancreatic cancer treatment in India can help you enjoy your life to the fullest and fight it successfully?
Though the detection of pancreas cancer itself is a matter of concern, with the right treatment, and the right doctor by your side you can beat pancreatic cancer.
That’s why early detection is important to cure the cancer as the tumor is generally operable in the early stages.
Let’s understand pancreas cancer in detail and how early detection impacts the success rate.
What is the pancreas?
It is an anatomical structure with two roles of secreting digestive enzymes and hormones regulating blood glucose levels.
Digestion – It facilitates the digestion of proteins and carbohydrates by releasing digestion enzymes in the body.
Hormones Secretion – It is known to secrete the insulin hormone which is responsible for reducing the blood sugar level of the body and the glucagon hormone which prevents low blood sugar.
The pancreas consists of exocrine and endocrine cells. Let us know the function and properties of these cells.
- The exocrine function involves the digestion of foods in the intestine.
- The endocrine function of the pancreas helps in blood glucose regulation by secreting the hormone insulin.
What are the different types of pancreatic cancer?
There are different types of Pancreatic cancer depending on the cell type and the area where the cancer originated.
There are three forms of pancreatic cancer:
1. Adenocarcinoma
Ductal carcinoma is the other name for the pancreatic cancer that develops in the pancreatic duct. This is by far the most common of all the pancreatic cancers.
Additionally, this cancer may arise from the cells that are the source of pancreatic enzymes. Generally, this type is called Acinar cell carcinoma, which results in about 1 percent to 2 percent of cancer originating in the exocrine glands.
2. Squamous Cell Carcinoma
The tumour is of a very rare kind, established in the ducts and made purely of squamous cells (flat cells that look like fish scale under a microscope). It is a nonendocrine cancer of the pancreas. Only 0.5% of all ductal pancreatic cancers are of this type.
3. Adenosquamous Carcinoma
These are exceptionally rare adenocarcinomas of the pancreas that are categorized as 1 to 4 percent of exocrine pancreatic cancers. Adenosquamous cancer is a very aggressive type of tumour which is associated with a poorer prognosis compared to adenocarcinoma. What is known is that they are presented with the signs of both ductal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
Now that you know about various types, let’s know the signs of pancreas cancer.
What are the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer?
Symptoms may vary as per the location of the cancer and in which stage the cancer is.
These are common symptoms found in pancreas cancer:
- Unjustified weight loss and loss of appetite
- Itching skin
- Dark Urine
- Jaundice symptoms include yellowish skin and eyes
- Pain in the abdomen that radiates to the back
- Uncontrolled diabetes
- Blood clots
- Nausea and fatigue without any reason
If symptoms remain persistent for long, you should go for a screening.
What are the causes and risk factors in pancreatic cancer cases?
Several risks tied to pancreatic cancer can be called factors.
Factors are listed below:
- DNA level mutation in pancreatic cells.
- Diabetes
- Smoking
- Obesity
- Family history of pancreatic cancer
- Older age. The majority of pancreas cancer occurs after 65
- Frequent inflammation of the pancreas
Tests used to diagnose pancreatic cancer
Diagnostic tests employed in pancreatic cancer include the following:
Endoscopic ultrasound, also referred to as EUS, refers to the diagnosis of the digestive system through the use of imaging studies. The thin structure of a tube tipped with a camera is called an endoscope. An ultrasound next to the endoscope transmits ultrasound waves and is capable of generating images of nearby tissues. Also, the ultrasound can visualize images of the pancreas.
It is the procedure that is meant to take a small specimen of tissue for microscopic examination in the laboratory. In the majority of cases, the doctor requests the sample from the patient during an endoscopic ultrasound examination.
During the procedure of EUS, tissue from the pancreas is taken. Less frequently, a sample of pancreas tissue is taken from the human body by inserting a needle into the body via the skin and reaching the pancreas. It is carried out by using a thin needle to remove the suspicious materials.
The sample is sent to the lab to get tested to know the answer as to whether it is malignant or not. In addition, expert tests of the genes can reveal what DNA changes are involved in cancer. With the help of results, they come up with your treatment plan involved.
Blood tests of pancreatic cancer patients may identify proteins called tumour markers as they are produced by the pancreatic cancerous cells. CA19-9 just stands for one pancreatic cancer tumour marker test.
Doctors use, to a lesser extent, this exam when you are undergoing or completing treatment to determine your reaction to the cancer. Certain cases of pancreatic cancers don’t create extra CA19-9, which implies that this test is not useful for everyone, although it is beneficial for many of the cases.
You can talk to your healthcare team about the importance of genetic testing. The genetics of cancer risk is identified through blood or saliva sampling for genetic testing.
Staging of cancer can be done post-diagnostic procedure. Let’s understand the stages of pancreatic cancer.
What are the different stages of pancreatic cancer?
We can see that a system (TNM) categorizes stages of pancreatic cancer: T- T refers to the size of the tumour; N- it means that it has spread to the lymph nodes; M- it signifies that it has spread to other parts of the body.
There are different types of lesions on the walls of abnormal pancreas. The changing cells may become cancerous and find a way for infiltration into surrounding healthy tissue. Such type of stage is also known as (T0; N0; M0)
Stage I is differentiated into Stage IA and Stage IB.
Stage IA: There are no cancerous cells in any of the lymph nodes, and there are no cancerous cells found in any part of the body other than the primary tumour (T1; N0; M0).
Stage IB: Tumor size: >2 cm (T2); regional lymph nodes