Pancreatic Cancer

Symptoms and treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

Hello friends, I’m Dr. Sajjan Rajpurohit. I’m a consultant medical oncologist at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, Dethibhag. Today I’ll discuss one cancer which one of the faster growing cancer. It is the cancer of the pancreas.

Pancreatic Cancer is fourth leading cause of cancer in men worldwide. Well the instances are low but the mortality is still very high. It is very important to suspect pancreatic cancer in patients who have pain in the upper part of the abdomen and pain in the upper part of the back and who are experiencing unexpected weight loss, who are having indigestion, who are having difficulty in taking solids, who are having multiple episodes of vomiting and people who have been otherwise active and suddenly they start they start becoming lethargic. So, if somebody experiences such kind of symptoms. It is very important for your doctor to really look deeper into the causes of the symptoms which might be leading to this kind of picture in the patient and many times what happens is ultrasound is done but ultrasound can miss pancreatic cancer because the pancreas is just at the bottom of the abdomen and ultrasounds are not able to visualize clearly the pancreatic mass.

If a patient who has been experiencing these particular symptoms, weight loss and suppression of appetite. It is very important that they after two or three weeks if they are not getting well, they should undergo an ultrasound and if required an endoscopy. And still if nothing is found then it is always productive to make the patient undergo a CT scan of the abdomen. Now pancreatic cancer, unfortunately even today, more than 70 percent patients are by the time it is diagnosed, it is un receptacle or it cannot be operated upon. Nowadays there’s an advancement in the treatment of pancreatic cancer and many more drugs have come up which are able to either reduce the size of the cancer and make it operate able or even in patients who have advanced disease, they are now able to live longer with these medicines.

Having said that, I think there needs to be a general awareness among the physicians as well as people who have these symptoms to be aware of this entity and to be ready if they are having some symptoms that are progressing beyond 2 to 3 weeks. I think this needs to be emphasized again that any upper abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss, apatite suppression and a dragging sensation in the upper part of the tummy. Pain starting from the back or pain starting from the abdomen and going through, leading towards the back, these can be symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

So, of somebody experiences these of whom you know of, kindly get them evaluated by a specialist or refer them to a higher to a higher gastrologist or oncologist and do a detailed evaluation of these people so that they can be found at the stage when surgery is possible and the person can be cured of this disease.

So this is what I had for today and if you want to have any further information on the topic of pancreatic cancer, you can connect with me on my facebook page which is Sujjan Rajpurohit ot on my twitter @sujjan80 or you can connect with me on lybrate or if you want to meet me personally you can meet me at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute at Dethibhag, it’s just near aims. Thanks a lot.