Symptoms Of Pancreatic Cancer

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[edit] Symptoms Of Pancreatic Cancer

Unfortunately cancer of the pancreas produces symptoms only late into the disease. Here are some of the symptoms that commonly lead to the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (modified from Ref. 1, p.852).

Signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer
mid abdominal pain	weight loss
muscle wasting	jaundice
vomiting due to gastric invasion	bowel obstruction due to tumor invasion
severe pain (invasion of splanchnic nerve)	marked appetite loss
liver metastases	dark urine, pale stools
depression in 2/3 of cases	inflammation of leg veins (thrombophlebitis)

The most common presentation is a patient with a fast weight loss coupled with lack of appetite and nausea. There is some abdominal pain and when jaundice develops there are also pale stools and dark urine that the patient observes in the bathroom. At this stage the tumor mass has invaded the biliary tracts, which causes biliary obstruction, a very poor prognostic sign. The patient might also get suicidal thoughts and complain of a lack of sex drive. These are symptoms of depression, which is often associated with pancreatic cancer.

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References:

1. Cancer: Principles &Practice of Oncology.4th edition. Edited by Vincent T. DeVita, Jr. et al. Lippincott, Philadelphia,PA, 1993. Chapter on Cancer of the pancreas.

2. Cancer: Principles&Practice of Oncology. 5th edition, volume 1. Edited by Vincent T. DeVita, Jr. et al. Lippincott-Raven Publ., Philadelphia,PA, 1997. Chapter on Cancer of the pancreas.

3. T Nishihara et al. Jpn J Cancer Res 2000 Aug;91(8):817-824.

4. L Staib et al. Int J Cancer 2001 Apr 1;92(1):79-87.

5. Conn's Current Therapy 2004, 56th ed., Copyright © 2004 Elsevier

6. Ferri: Ferri's Clinical Advisor: Instant Diagnosis and Treatment, 2004 ed., Copyright © 2004 Mosby, Inc