Lost a family member within a month of diagnosis and wish to understand it more.
In: Biology
People who have it often don’t know they do until it’s in an advanced stage, it doesn’t show symptoms as easily as other cancers. It’s also located in a very central area among multiple other organs, and so can spread in advanced stages and makes things like surgery or chemo much more difficult to do.
I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. I understand your desire to look for more information and clarity on the situation.
I am a current Physician’s Assistant student. I agree with what’s already been said. If a particular cancer is found early then it’s less likely to have spread, meaning it’s often easier to treat – making the overall prognosis more favorable. Sometimes other cancers will show themselves earlier or in more “obvious” ways. But, the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer are “insidious.” Essentially meaning that the early signs of pancreatic cancer are vague. Patients often feel off…but it’s not always apparent that something is wrong until the cancer has progressed to a dangerous level.
I hope this helps bring some level of peace. Please let me know if I can help any further.
Maybe annual or some other interval abdominal CT scans would be able to catch it in the very early stages. Of course that would mean health insurance would have to be willing to cover that expense.
Most pancreatic cancers aren’t really from pancreas cells, they’re from the cells that make up the lining of the ducts in the pancreas. Duct cells are very similar to skin cells – they naturally divide very quickly even when they’re not cancerous, so once they become cancerous the cancer grows rapidly.
Another factor is that most pancreas duct cells that become cancerous will die simply because they exist in an area with a poor blood supply and very limited space (so they basically suffocate or crush themselves if they stay in the same location that they formed in).
To survive and become a visible cancer, the starter cancer cell has to have a mutation that enables it to move to a more favorable site for growth. Those mutations not only allow the cancer to quickly spread to the rest of the pancreas, they also let it spread to other organs as well.
If the original cancel cell doesn’t develop a DNA mutation that allows it to spread *before* it becomes cancerous, there is a very good chance it will not survive long enough for you to ever know about it.
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