Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. Due to its complexity, pancreatic cancer treatment requires specialized expertise and advanced diagnostic tools, making Turkish hospitals a top choice for effective care.
This deadly cancer often goes undiagnosed until its later stages, as its symptoms—such as jaundice, weight loss, and abdominal pain—are non-specific and can lead to misdiagnosis. To address this, Turkey boasts specialized centers dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Responsible for over 7% of global cancer deaths, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most aggressive cancers. This article explores the symptoms, diagnostic methods, and treatment options available for pancreatic cancer in Turkey.
What is Pancreatic cancer?
Pancreatic cancer occurs when cells in the pancreas multiply out of control and can result in a mass of tissue.
Sometimes, this mass is benign (not cancerous), but it can also be malignant (cancerous), and we have a pancreatic tumor.
The lifetime risk of developing this cancer is about 1.6%, the risk is roughly equal for men and women, and the typical age at the time of diagnosis is 65-74 years old.
Pancreas Overview
The pancreas is a vital gland in the digestive system located behind the stomach. It plays a crucial role in digestion and regulating blood sugar levels, making it essential for overall health.
The pancreas helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels by producing two key hormones: insulin and glucagon. These hormones work together to regulate glucose levels in the body.
As both an exocrine and endocrine gland, the pancreas has dual functions. It produces digestive enzymes, such as amylase and lipase, to aid in food digestion. Simultaneously, it secretes hormones like insulin and glucagon to manage blood sugar levels.
Types of pancreatic cancer
There are two types of tumors that grow in the pancreas: Exocrine gland tumors and neuroendocrine tumors.
About 93% of pancreatic tumors are exocrine tumors, and the most common type is called adenocarcinoma.
Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is what people usually mean when they say they have pancreatic cancer, the most common type starts in the pancreatic ducts and is called ductal adenocarcinoma.
There are rarer forms of exocrine tumors, including one called intraductal myxoma (IPMN), that have become more common in recent years. This type begins as a benign tumor but can grow and become cancerous over time.
The remainder of pancreatic tumors, about 7% of the total, are neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and are called pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs).
These tumors are also called islet cell tumors or islet cell carcinomas. If you have an islet cell tumor, doctors may give it a name based on the type of hormone the cell makes, for example insulinoma would be the name for a tumor in the cell that makes insulin.
Symptoms of pancreatic endocrine cancer may differ from those of traditional pancreatic cancer, such as jaundice or weight loss because some PNETs continue to overproduce hormones.
Pancreatic cancer causes and risk factors
There is no clear answer to this. We don’t know exactly what causes this cancer, but there are some risk factors that contribute to it.
One in 64 people will develop gastric cancer at some point in their lives. A risk factor is something that increases the chance of developing a disease; there are behavioral risk factors that can be changed, and some of these risk factors include the following:
- Smoking.
- Diabetes, especially obesity-related type 2 diabetes, is also a diagnostic criterion, as the onset of diabetes at an older age (for example, in someone in their 70s) and in a person with a normal weight or BMI may be a sign of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
- Obesity, where fat accumulation around the waist is a risk factor, even if you’re not obese overall.
- Exposure to chemicals used by dry cleaners and metal workers.
- Chronic pancreatitis is sometimes associated with smoking and drinking too much alcohol.
There are also risk factors that you can’t change. These include:
- Genetics, some of the conditions that cause chronic pancreatitis include a family history of pancreatic cancer.
It’s also important to know any family history of breast cancer because genetic conditions associated with breast cancer, called BRCA syndromes, are linked to this cancer. - Age: Over 40 years old.
- Sex: Men are more likely to develop this type of cancer.
- Be of African-American or Ashkenazi Jewish descent.
Pancreatic cancer symptoms
Pancreatic cancer does not always show symptoms, especially in the early stages, so it is difficult to detect. However, pancreatic cancer may cause the following:
- Pain in the upper abdomen that may spread to the back
- Yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice) with itching
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- blood clots
Your healthcare provider may suspect you have diabetes if you have certain symptoms and have recently had diabetes or pancreatitis.
How is pancreatic cancer diagnosed in Turkey?
Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect in the early stages. Healthcare providers cannot examine the pancreas in a routine checkup.
If your healthcare provider suspects you may have pancreatic cancer, he or she may order radiographs to see your pancreas clearly. An endoscopic ultrasound may also be done.
An ultrasound probe at the end of the endoscope allows the pancreas to be visualized through the stomach wall. If necessary, an ultrasound-guided biopsy (sample of pancreatic tissue) can be obtained during the procedure.
A blood test can find a substance called a tumor marker, and high levels of something called CA 19-9 in a patient may indicate a pancreatic tumor.
According to recommendations from two of the largest cancer organizations, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), anyone newly diagnosed with this cancer should talk to their doctor about genetic counseling and testing to see if there is a hereditary cause for gastric cancer.
Early symptoms are often deceptive, making it difficult to diagnose in its initial stages. As pancreatic cancer progresses to its later stages, the symptoms become more serious and require immediate medical attention. If you notice any signs, don’t hesitate to contact Bimaristan, Your Family Center in Turkey, for expert care and diagnosis.
Treating pancreatic cancer at all stages
Treatment for pancreatic cancer depends on certain things, including the location of the tumor, the stage of the cancer, the overall condition of the patient, and whether or not the cancer has spread beyond the pancreas.
In advanced stages of cancer, treatment for pancreatic cancer is unlikely to be effective by the time the diagnosis is made; it is often too late for complete surgical removal of the pancreas. However, there are different ways to try to treat the cancer. These include:
- Surgical removal of the cancerous part of the pancreas, lymph nodes near the pancreas may also be removed.
- Radiation therapy to kill cancer cells.
- Chemotherapy in Turkey, this method uses drugs that kill cancer cells.
- Immunotherapy in Turkey, immunotherapy helps your body fight cancer. It is largely ineffective against pancreatic cancer, but about 1% of people with may benefit from it if they have certain genetic mutations.
- Targeted therapy, which targets specific genes or proteins that help cancer grow, is generally done with genetic testing to see if targeted therapy is right for you.
Chemotherapy and/or radiation may be used instead of surgery, before surgery to shrink the tumor, or after surgery to make sure all the cancer cells die.
For pancreatic cancer, it may also include ways to improve digestion and control diabetes.
Where does pancreatic cancer spread? What are the latest studies on pancreatic cancer?
Often not detected early, mesothelioma cancer tends to spread to nearby lymph nodes, then to the liver, peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), and lungs.
Studies on this type of cancer are still very much ongoing, as this cancer has a high mortality rate compared to other types of cancer.
A recent study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania indicated that about 90 percent of these cancers are caused by a mutation in the KRAS gene, the most common oncogene across cancers.
Thus, administering drugs to inhibit this oncogene played a major role in inhibiting pancreatic tumor growth.
Doctors say that pancreatic cancer is a cold cancer that is usually not sufficiently attacked by the immune system, so a study conducted on mice suggests different ways to expose the pancreatic tumor (or make it hotter) to the immune system to make it easier for it to kill it.
Can pancreatic cancer be prevented?
We don’t know what actually causes pancreatic cancer, so it’s hard to know how to prevent it. However, you can change your daily behaviors to become healthier.
These tips may help reduce your risk of pancreatic cancer:
- Do not smoke. If you smoke or use tobacco in any form, try to quit.
- Try to reach and maintain a normal weight by eating healthy and exercising.
- Try to avoid diabetes and, if you have it, control your blood sugar levels.
- Use safety equipment if your work exposes you to toxins.
What is the outlook for people with pancreatic cancer?
Pancreatic cancer is usually not diagnosed until the advanced stages, so it is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths.
After one year, the survival rate is about 20%; after five years, this figure drops to about 6%, as every year, about 3,000 more people die from pancreatic cancer than from breast cancer in the United States.
If surgery can be performed and part of the pancreas removed, the average survival rate is 18-20 months, and the five-year survival rate rises to 10-25% in such cases.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers due to the difficulty of diagnosing it in the early stages, so Turkey has worked to provide the best methods of diagnosis and treatment for this deadly cancer in the absence of early treatment.
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