Pancreatic Cancer: About the cancer

Dahyun Kim

August 15, 2025

Pancreatic Cancer, which happens to be relatively rare compared to other cancers, takes up about 3.3% of cancer cases and 8.4% of all cancer deaths in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Being relatively rare, the symptoms, diagnosis and the science behind pancreatic cancer seem to be less known compared to lung cancer, liver cancer, etc.  

The pancreas is located around the lower part of the stomach in the upper abdomen, behind the stomach, and in front of the spine. The main role of the pancreas is to form enzymes that assist in digesting food and hormones that are in charge of the blood sugar levels. According to the Mayo Clinic, the easiest way to cure pancreatic cancer is to find it out in its early stages, like most other cancers, but it is rarely found at its early stages. This is because there are no direct symptoms a patient can sense until it spreads to other organs. The most common type, as stated, is pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, which begins in the cells that line the ducts that carry the digestive enzymes from the pancreas. Pancreatic cancer occurs in the same way as most other cancer occurs—a change in the DNA. Just like how the kidney cancer was formed, the pancreatic cancer occurs as the cell’s DNA with the instructions to tell the cell what to do, malfunctions. Healthy cells have to grow at a set rate, but the malfunction in instructions and behavior in cells results in an overload of the cells, creating tumors. This will grow into a bigger mass, destroying healthy body tissue, breaking away and spreading to other parts of the body. It is stated that cancer forms less in the hormone, produving cells or neuroendocrine cells of the pancreas but once it is formed, it is called pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors or pancreatic endocrine cancer–the less common type of pancreatic cancer compared to the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma / pancreatic exocrine cancer. 

The symptoms of pancreatic cancer are common to stomach cancer because the tumor will spread throughout the pancreas to the organs near it–which is when the patient feels the symptoms. Mayo Clinic lists that these symptoms constists of: belly pain spearding to the sides or back, loss of appetite, unexpected weight loss, yellowing of the skin and whites of eyes–so called jaundice, light colored / floating stools, dark colored urine, itching, new diagnosis of diabetes or harder controlable diabetes, pain and swlling in arms or legs potential caused by blood clot, and frequent tiredness or weakness. 

Although pancreatic cancer is unknown, there are various treatments for this cancer such as surgery, chemotherapy, etc, and the plan will be made according to the patient's stage and body condition. It is important to get annual/periodical body CT scans throughout the whole abdomen to spot any risks of cancer that do not show clear symptoms, such as pancreatic cancer.