Pancreatic cancer is a malignant of the pancreas. The pancreas is an organ with 6 inches long. It’s located deep in your belly between your backbone and stomach. Your intestine and liver surround the organ.
The cancer is classified base on whether it affects the endocrine or exocrine functions of the pancreas. There is an important distinction between the two types of pancreatic cancer because they have different causes, symptoms, treatments, risk factors, diagnostic tests, and prognoses.
Tumors in the pancreas can be benign/not cancerous or malignant/cancerous. Benign tumors are not as harmful as malignant tumors. Below are the differences between of them:
Benign tumors, it usually not a threat to life, it doesn’t invade the tissues around them, don’t spread to other parts of the body, can be removed and usually don’t grow back.
Malignant growths, it may be a threat to life, sometimes can be removed but can grow back, can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs, can spread to other parts of the body.
In 2010, it is estimated that 36,800 individuals have died from the disease and more than 43,000 peoples in the United States have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The prognosis is still poor, with less than 5% of those infected still alive five years after diagnosis.
Pancreatic cancer can spread to other organs or tissues:
- Invade: A malignant pancreatic tumor can invade organs next to the pancreas, such as the small intestine or stomach.
- Shed: Shedding into the abdomen may cause to new tumors developing on the surface of nearby organs and tissues. The expert may call these implants or seeds. The seeds can cause an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen.
- Spread: Cancer cells can spread through the blood vessels to the lungs and liver. Other option, pancreatic cancer cells can migrate through lymph vessels to nearby lymph nodes. Using this migration, the cancer cells may attach to other organs.
