One of the most insidious diseases is that pancreatic cancer is being diagnosed more and more frequently: a doctor has said what causes it

According to the doctor, in Lithuania, as in many European countries, malignant neoplasms are the second most common cause of death. First of all, cardiovascular disease.

Unfortunately, the incidence of pancreatic cancer in Europe is increasing every year. From 1996 to 2016, the incidence of pancreatic cancer increased by 62 percent. Why did this happened? According to the doctor, the most common diseases may have been caused by the factors that cause them: more frequent smoking, diabetes and obesity.

Also, there is very little focus on pancreatic cancer and a lack of research. Of the total funding for cancer research in the European Union, only 2% goes to pancreatic cancer. this money.

“This amount is very small, so there are still no effective prevention measures and effective treatments. Today, despite all the advances in medicine and science, the prognosis for survival from the disease remains the same as 40 years ago, ”said B. Kurlinkus.

Most have already heard of and participated in colon, breast, or other cancer prevention programs. However, pancreatic cancer does not yet have such a program.

There are no symptoms of the disease in the early stages.

One of the reasons pancreatic cancer is a particularly dangerous disease is that it has no symptoms in the early stages. Even if there are any symptoms, they are initially mild, unobtrusive, and patients do not pay proper attention to them. The patient may feel unusual, unpleasant, difficult to describe sensations in the upper abdomen, general weakness, lack of energy, may begin to lose weight.

As the tumor grows, more symptoms appear. Which of them predominates depends on the location of the tumor in the pancreas, that is, which organs in contact with the pancreas (bile ducts, gallbladder, liver, stomach, spleen) are affected by cancer.

Due to mild symptoms, people often do not go to the doctor and the disease is detected in the later stages, when a highly effective treatment is no longer available.

According to the interlocutor, mortality from malignant neoplasms is decreasing in the European Union. However, this rule does not apply to pancreatic cancer; their mortality remains stable. 2017 In the European Union, pancreatic cancer mortality has exceeded breast cancer mortality.

“In terms of frequency, this tumor ranks seventh among the total incidence of tumors, but in terms of the mortality it causes, it ranks third. It is preceded only by lung and colon cancer. […] There are no inexpensive and effective screening programs to screen large populations and select those who may be most at risk of contracting the disease, ”Kurlinkus said.

As the doctor told me, pancreatic cancer responds to treatment very differently, so what helped one patient may not work for another.

Smokers and people with obesity are at higher risk

There is no significant gender difference in the incidence of pancreatic cancer. It is not entirely clear what exactly causes pancreatic cancer, but risk factors have been identified. One of those factors is smoking. Smokers are up to 75 percent. more likely to develop pancreatic cancer compared to those who do not smoke.

People with obesity have 47 percent. increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Diabetes and chronic pancreatitis are also at risk. Heredity is also important.

“If a person’s first-degree relatives, that is, parents, brothers or sisters, have had pancreatic cancer, the risk of developing a relative is also several times higher. Although final research is still lacking, it is also believed that consumption excessive alcohol is a major risk factor, “said the doctor.

In theory, the cure for pancreatic cancer is to perform an operation in the early stages of the disease, during which the tumor would be removed. However, a large proportion of patients are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at an advanced stage, when it is no longer fully cured.

What treatment programs are there?

According to B. Kurlinkus, as for other oncological diseases, surgical operations are performed in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, when the main tumor is removed from the body or the permeability of the organs compressed by the tumor is restored.

To destroy tumor cells without a surgical incision, they can be treated with drugs, chemotherapy, or irradiated with radiation, radiotherapy.

The Santara Clinics of Vilnius University, together with the Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University and the Medical University of Graz, Austria, carry out research examining tumors removed from patients, your blood serum and your urine. The goal is to discover a biomarker that allows doctors to determine which treatment would be the most appropriate for this patient, or even to help diagnose the disease at an early stage when it is asymptomatic.

This research is funded by the Lithuanian Science Council under the National Science Program “Healthy Aging”, and the research is led by prof. Audrius Šileikis.

“We have already received many promising results, which we plan to publish in the scientific press this year,” said B. Kurlinkus.