Pancreatic cancer is one of the most malignant tumors. More than 80% of patients are diagnosed in the late stage and cannot undergo surgery. Some patients die in less than half a year from diagnosis, and the five-year survival rate is less than 10%. Therefore, pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect in the early stage, which is related to the location of the pancreas in the body.
The pancreas is hidden deep in the back of the abdominal cavity, invisible and intangible, so it is difficult to feel the lesions. 胰臟癌Once it is detected and diagnosed, it has often developed to the middle and late stages. At this time, surgery is very difficult because tumors often grow in areas with dense blood vessels. Even if surgical resection is performed, about one-third of patients will relapse or metastasize a few months after surgery.
So, can pancreatic cancer not be detected early?
Although pancreatic cancer is “hidden”, it is not completely without symptoms, but it will not appear in the early stages of cancer. As the tumor grows and cancer cells spread, patients will begin to experience pain. The pain usually occurs in the upper abdomen and sometimes spreads to the back. In addition, there will be symptoms such as jaundice, nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue and weakness. These symptoms lack specificity, and patients often ignore them by thinking they are diseases of other organs.
Patients can include screening for pancreatic cancer during physical examinations to detect and treat them early. The most commonly used method is B-ultrasound. The direct image of pancreatic cancer can see low-echo tumors, or dilated pancreatic ducts and bile ducts. In addition, CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging, as further examination methods of B-ultrasound, can determine whether malignant tumors have occurred.
Multiple methods are combined to fight the “cancer king”
In recent years, the incidence of pancreatic cancer has increased year by year, and the treatment of pancreatic cancer is becoming the main direction of medical research. Precision comprehensive treatment has become the preferred treatment mode for pancreatic cancer, not just surgical resection. For pancreatic cancer that has already metastasized, it is impossible to achieve a cure by simply removing the pancreatic lesions. It is necessary to combine radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and other methods to extend the patient’s survival as much as possible.
In addition to the above conventional therapies, some new therapies for pancreatic cancer have also been developed.
In 2019, a study published at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that first-line treatment with the PARP inhibitor Olaparib can help pancreatic cancer patients prolong their survival to more than 12 months. The “combination punch” of new adjuvant therapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy has transformed a large number of patients who were previously unable to undergo surgery into patients who can undergo surgery, greatly improving the cure rate of pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer, known as the “king of cancer”, is characterized by being difficult to detect in the early stages, difficult and ineffective surgical treatment in the middle and late stages, and poor prognosis for patients. However, with the development and progress of medicine, the survival rate and quality of life of pancreatic cancer patients have made great progress compared with the past, and are still continuing to improve.
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