Pancreatic cancer symptoms

Pancreatic Symptoms & Signs of Pancreatic cancer

People with pancreatic cancer may experience the following symptoms. Sometimes, people with pancreatic cancer do not show any of these symptoms. Or, these symptoms may be similar to symptoms of other medical conditions. If you are concerned about a symptom on this list, please talk with your doctor.

Doctors often refer to pancreatic cancer as a silent disease because it usually does not cause any symptoms in the beginning. Also, there are currently no blood tests that can reliably detect the cancer while it is in its early stage. As the cancer grows, symptoms may include:

• Yellow skin and eyes, darkening of the urine, itching, and clay-colored stool, which are signs of obstructive jaundice that may occur during the early stage of the disease


• Pain in upper abdomen or upper back


• Burning feeling in stomach or other gastrointestinal discomforts


• Floating stools with a particularly bad odor, due to malabsorption of fats


• Weakness


• Loss of appetite


• Nausea and vomiting


• Weight loss with no known explanation

Presentation

Early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is difficult because the symptoms are so non-specific and varied. Common symptoms include abdominal pain, loss of appetite, significant weight loss and painless jaundice. All of these symptoms can be blamed on other causes. Therefore, diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is often late-stage in its development.

Jaundice occurs when the tumor grows and pressure obstructs the common bile duct, which runs partially through the head of the pancreas. Tumours of the head of the pancreas (approximately 60% of cases) will more easily give rise to such symptoms.

Trousseau's sign (which is a a sign of malignancy: the blood may spontaneously form clots in the portal vessels, the deep veins of the extremities, or the superficial veins anywhere on the body) is found to be associated this cancer

Clinical depression has also been associated with pancreatic cancer, sometimes presenting before the cancer is diagnosed. However, the mechanism for this is not known..