Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is a rare form of cancer, particularly in the younger population. Around 7,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. The cause of this cancer is not currently known but research continues to work on finding this.
Pancreatic cancer can sometimes be operated on if the tumour is small; chemotherapy would also be used as part of a combined treatment. Following diagnosis, your consultant/doctor will be able to discuss treatment options with you.
Things to look out for
Symptoms include but are not limited to:
- Abdominal pain, which may spread to your back – this pain may be persistent or sporadic; it may become more intense when you are lying down and may be relieved when sitting up or leaning forward
- Unintentional weight loss and/or loss of appetite
- Jaundice – yellowing of the skin and/or eye whites. Jaundice can also cause changes to your bowel habits; stool may become pale while urine may darken
- Fatigue and/or depression
- Diarrhoea
- Indigestion and/or a bloated feeling after meals
- Vomiting (sickness)
What treatments are available?
The treatments for Pancreatic cancer are:
You may have one of these treatments, or a combination. The type or combination of treatments you have will depend on how the cancer was diagnosed and the stage it's at.
The consultant diagnostic and interventional radiologists at Christie Oncology Imaging will be able to provide diagnostic CT, PET/CT and MRI scans which will help to diagnose, stage monitor pancreas cancer response to surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. We also provide US/CT guided biopsy to obtain tissue samples which will help to tailor chemotherapy and other treatments to specific tumour characteristics. We may be able to offer an interventional oncology procedure such as liver vascular procedure (SIRT, TACE), biliary procedure and percutaneous ablation.
The consultant diagnostic and interventional radiologists at Christie Oncology Imaging will be able to provide diagnostic CT, PET/CT and MRI scans which will help to diagnose, stage monitor pancreas cancer response to surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. We also provide US/CT guided biopsy to obtain tissue samples which will help to tailor chemotherapy and other treatments to specific tumour characteristics. We may be able to offer an interventional oncology procedure such as biliary procedure, liver vascular procedure (SIRT, TACE), and percutaneous ablation.
More information available at:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pancreatic-cancer/
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/pancreatic-cancer