Pancreatic Cancer Essay

Pancreatic cancer has a fatality case of 95%, making it one of the leading causes of cancer deaths, and there is often a poor prognosis (1). The pancreas, an elongated and flat glandular organ, can produce new cells that have the potential to become cancerous – usually adenocarcinomas. A benign tumour is less likely to be harmful and can usually be removed without growing back. Both the endocrine and exocrine functional cells of the pancreas are capable of developing cancer cells. Pancreatic cancer can spread beyond the pancreas to other organs, such as the small intestine, liver and spleen, by cancer cells shedding from the main tumour into structures in the abdomen, leading to the formation of new tumours on the surface of nearby organs and tissues. Malignant tumours can also grow and invade structures next to the pancreas or spread through the blood stream or lymphatic system, forming new tumours in other organs around the body(2).

Figure 1: Benign vs malignant tumours (11)

The pancreas is a vital abdominal organ, located retroperitoneally and transversely across the posterior abdominal wall (3). The structure of the

Over production of insulin caused by insulinoma, a tumour on the insulin producing cells, can result in hypoglycaemia in the bloodstream. Glucagonoma tumour cells can have a serious effect on the levels of sugar within the bloodstream since it causes excessive production of glucagon from cells within the pancreas (8). This may even result in a blood clot which, if large enough, could obstruct a blood vessel completely. For example, blockage of a coronary artery supplying the heart will deprive the heart of oxygen