Pancreatic Cancer: Causes, Risks, Symptoms, Solutions

Pancreatic cancer is one of the worst cancers to get because it's extremely difficult to detect. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-caused deaths in America. Because by the time pancreatic cancer is diagnosed, it often has spread beyond the abdominal cavity, the death rate is high. After only five years following diagnosis, only 4 percent of pancreatic cancer patients are still alive.

There are no known techniques for screening of pancreatic cancer. Thus, the best solutions at this point are to take measures to lower the risk. According to Johns Hopkins Health Alerts, exercise and weight management might help lower risk of this ruthless killer. Smoking is a well-established risk factor for pancreatic cancer, which, by the way, was what killed actor Michael Landon, a heavy smoker.

Symptoms of pancreatic cancer: jaundice, or yellow coloring of the skin, is one symptom. Abdominal pain or pressure is another. You can see how pancreatic cancer can easily be misdiagnosed: abdominal pain or pressure has many benign causes. So do back pain and weakness, two more symptoms. More specific symptoms of pancreatic cancer are loss of appetite, nausea and weight loss. However, these symptoms have many other causes as well.

The reason a doctor, during a routine physical, can't check for pancreatic cancer is because any tumors in that location cannot readily be felt via palpation (feeling the patient's body with fingers). In other words, pancreatic cancer usually does not present as a mysterious lump. Only after it has spread (metastasized) do the previously mentioned symptoms start appearing.

In fact, 90 percent of cases are diagnosed only after the malignancy has spread beyond the pancreas. As mentioned prior, smoking is a risk factor. Other risk factors for pancreatic cancer are being between the age of 60 and 80 (80 percent of cases), but don't let that reassure you if you're younger and have lifestyle-related risk factors. A meat-based diet, and eating a lot of fried foods, are risk factors as well. Michael Landon was known for eating a lot of meat.

The disease strikes more blacks, percentage-wise, than whites. And more men. Reasons for this are not known. The risk increases 18-fold if a close relative had pancreatic cancer. Additional risk factors: diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver and chronic inflammation of the pancreas.

According to the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses' Health Study, here are some conclusions about pancreatic cancer: Being overweight, and lack of exercise, are risk factors. The chance of getting the disease was 72 percent greater in the obese study participants, than with those who were not obese (BMI under 23). A 50 percent reduction in risk came with moderate-level exercise 90 minutes per week.

These are only associated risk factors, and a cause-and-effect relationship between lifestyle and pancreatic cancer has not yet been determined. However, the study involved over 163,000 men and women, followed 10-20 years. This makes the risk-to-incidence of disease data credible and something to seriously think about.