Early symptoms of pancreatic cancer

Aug 3, 2011 by Alexander

Often late in the disease before being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Common clinical features are weight loss, abdominal pain and jaundice. Weight loss is a nonspecific symptom, is usually progressive in nature, in recognition of pancreatic cancer a few months ago that started to occur. 65% to 80% of patients with abdominal pain, often worse at night. Supine and sitting can make the pain worse. Pain is often vague and difficult to implicit, which is often delay in diagnosis.

Jaundice is the third most common symptoms, many patients appeared later. Jaundice is usually progressive increase, but there was a state of natural fluctuations. On the adjacent common bile duct of small pancreatic cancer patients, jaundice may be the only clinical manifestations. Therefore, this unexplained jaundice should be carefully assessed. These tumors are often easier to remove. Jaundice is often accompanied by upper arm, leg and abdomen annoying itching, especially at night increased. Bile salt retention and itching on the skin. Because the level of bile salts in the skin and itching of the relationship between serum bilirubin levels than the closer. There is another argument that bile salts promote the release of proteases in the surrounding cells, and these proteases can cause itching, but not all of the patients complained of itching. Occasionally there may be itching to see before they occur in clinical jaundice. Although painless jaundice is still wrong that the specific symptoms of pancreatic cancer patients, but in fact the performance of such patients is only one exception.
Pancreatic cancer, non-specific signs and symptoms include anorexia, ascending cholangitis, and changes in bowel habits (constipation, diarrhea, malabsorption, bloating, or flatulence). Diabetes can be associated with seizures. As the stomach, pylorus or duodenum are directly affected by abuse, or because of gastric function disorders, the symptoms may be complicated by delayed gastric emptying. Usually associated with lung cancer metastatic thrombophlebitis (Trousseau signs) may also be early signs of pancreatic cancer. Middle-aged, there may be depression, doubts disease and hysteria, is generally considered to be caused by a pancreatic cancer. In pancreatic cancer patients occasionally seen in psychiatric symptoms of depression symptoms. This has more than half of patients with psychiatric symptoms of their psychiatric symptoms than the proportion of physical signs and symptoms appear as early as 6 months. It is precisely because there are many non-specific and vague signs and symptoms, so early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is very difficult, the doctor must maintain a high level of vigilance.