What Are The Symptoms Of Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer often doesnt cause symptoms in the early stages. As the cancer grows, it may start to cause symptoms. The symptoms may not be specific to pancreatic cancer, and they may come and go to begin with. This can make pancreatic cancer hard to diagnose.
These symptoms can be caused by lots of things, and are unlikely to be pancreatic cancer. If you are not feeling well and you have any of the symptoms on this page, speak to your GP to check if there is anything wrong.
Common symptoms include:
When Gerd Progresses To Esophageal Cancer
GERD develops when acid that digests food in the stomach washes up into the esophagus. Often it occurs in people who overeat or who lie down too soon after eating. It may also be caused by defects in the valve that connects the esophagus to the stomach or by a condition called hiatal hernia, which is when the upper part of the stomach pushes up through the diaphragm and into the chest.
After someone has had GERD for many years, it can advance to a condition called Barretts esophagus. Barretts is a defensive mechanism of your esophagus, Dr. Molena explains. When the esophagus is bathed in acid all the time, it wants to protect itself, and so the cells in the lining begin to change. These changes can advance to become cancer.
When patients develop Barretts esophagus, their GERD symptoms often disappear. Its typical for patients with esophageal cancer to tell me that they suffered from GERD for years, but then it went away and they stopped taking their GERD medications, which would have actually reduced their cancer risk, Dr. Molena says.
Not everyone with GERD has the typical symptoms, which are heartburn and regurgitation soon after eating. Up to 20% may have different symptoms, such as coughing or chest pain, a sore throat or hoarse voice, or even frequent sinus infections. Its important to talk to your doctor about any of these.
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How Can You Treat Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer treatment optionsinclude surgery and chemotherapy or targeted therapy. Surgery involves removing the affected ovary or the ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus and performing a biopsy to evaluate cancer cells.
- Surgery is the primary treatment. You can choose to remove the ovary and tissue affected by cancer. However, some women prefer to remove both ovaries and their uterus and fallopian tubes to reduce the risk of recurrence.
- Chemotherapy is a treatment that enters your bloodstream and destroys cancer cells. It can be beneficial, but it also damages the bodys healthy cells.
- Hormone therapy blocks the production of hormones that cause tumors to grow and spread.
- Targeted therapy is a newer treatment that kills cancer cells but minimizes damage to healthy cells.
- Radiation therapy is for cancer that has spread beyond the ovaries. It uses energy particles and X-rays to destroy cancer cells.
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Where Can Breast Cancer Spread
The most common places for breast cancer to spread to are the lymph nodes, bone, liver, lungs and brain. The symptoms you may experience will depend on where in the body the cancer has spread to. You might not have all of the symptoms mentioned here.
Remember other conditions can cause these symptoms. They dont necessarily mean that you have cancer that has spread. But if you have symptoms that you are worried about, discuss them with your GP, cancer specialist, or breast care nurse so that you can be checked.
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Moderate To Severe Pain
The most common medications used for advanced pancreatic cancer pain are stronger opioids. These include, among others, morphine, hydromorphone, fentanyl, and methadone.
Like other categories of pain treatment and dosing, finding the right combination involves trial and error. Your doctor may start you at a lower dose and then increase the dose until your pain is controlled. Additionally, other drugs or therapies may be added to help control pain and reduce the amount of strong opioid needed for pain control.
As with all treatments, be sure to tell your doctor if your pain is not being controlled, even with stronger medications. Theyll likely change the dose, or the treatment, so you are more comfortable.
One thing to watch for is called breakthrough pain. As the name implies, this situation occurs when your pain is controlled most of the time but you experience periods of pain before your next scheduled dose of pain medication. In some cases, this means a higher overall dose is needed. There may also be other ways to help manage breakthrough pain.
Side effects that may occur with stronger opioids include:
In general, people taking opioids should avoid alcohol as it can add to the feeling of drowsiness. You should also avoid driving a car or performing other activities that require alertness until you know how you respond to these medications.
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Cardinal Signs And Symptoms
Cardinal signs and symptoms are specific even to the point of being pathognomonic. A cardinal sign or cardinal symptom can also refer to the major sign or symptom of a disease. Abnormal reflexes can indicate problems with the nervous system. Signs and symptoms are also applied to physiological states outside the context of disease, as for example when referring to the signs and symptoms of pregnancy, or the symptoms of dehydration. Sometimes a disease may be present without showing any signs or symptoms when it is known as being asymptomatic. The disorder may be discovered through tests including scans. An infection may be asymptomatic which may still be transmissible.
What Is Brca1 Or Brca2
Normally, BRCA1 and BRCA2 are tumor suppressor genes that halt abnormal cell growth in the ovaries. If 1 of these genes mutates, it can increase your risk of developing cancer. You have a 50% chance of inheriting the BRCA gene mutation if 1 of your parents has it.
Women with a mutation in either their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes have 10-to-30 times increased risk of ovarian cancer. BRCA1 increases the chance of ovarian cancer even more than BRCA2.
Genetic testing for BRCA1 or BRCA2 gives you information about your predisposition of developing ovarian cancer. While it sounds rare, 1 in every 500 women in the United States has a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation.
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Warning Signs Of Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer has a reputation for being one of the most painful forms of cancer. But for many sufferers, pain is not among the disease’s early warning signs.
In fact, the most common feature in the early stages may be that it causes no symptoms at all, says Umut Sarpel, MD, an associate professor and surgical oncologist at New York’s Mount Sinai Health System.
“We all get stomachaches from time to time, and that can make people worry about stomach cancer,” Dr. Sarpel says. “But it’s not one of the most common cancers, and in most cases, stomachaches or pain are not going to be the result of cancer.”
So how common is it? Roughly 1 in 111 adults will develop stomach cancer at some point in her lifetime, and the disease is more common among men, according to the American Cancer Society. Dr. Sarpel adds that a person’s risk for the disease goes up as she ages.
Stomach cancer is not typically an inherited disease. “The majority of gastric cancers are sporadic, or caused by random DNA mutations,” she says. While there is a super-rare genetic mutation associated with the disease, Dr. Sarpel says its not worth testing for that unless a lot of people in your family tree have had the disease.
So what should you be looking out for? These six symptoms.
Treatment For Childhood Stomach Cancer May Cause Side Effects
For information about side effects that begin during treatment for cancer, see our Side Effects page.
Side effects from cancer treatment that begin after treatment and continue for months or years are called late effects. Late effects of cancer treatment may include the following:
- Physical problems.
- Second cancers or other conditions.
Some late effects may be treated or controlled. It is important to talk with your child’s doctors about the possible late effects caused by some treatments. See the PDQ summary on Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer for more information.
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How Is Stomach Cancer Treated
Treatment for stomach cancer depends on several factors, including the site of the tumor, the extent to which the cancer has spread, and the patients health and preferences.
5 Treatments options include:
- Surgery: The tumor and healthy tissues around it are removed surgically to ensure that no cancer cells remain. Types of surgeries include:
- Endoscopic mucosal resection:Endoscopy is used to remove tiny tumors in early-stage cancer.
- Subtotal gastrectomy: Part of the stomach is removed.
- Total gastrectomy: The whole stomach is removed.
Stages Of Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer is staged based on the growth of cancer within the stomach and other parts of the body:
- Stage 0: Abnormal cancer cells are found in the mucosa of the stomach wall.
- Stage I: Tumor is found in situ and cancer cells may have spread to one or two lymph nodes.
- Stage II: Spread of cancer to deeper layers of the stomach and nearby lymph nodes.
- Stage III: Spread of cancer to all layers of the stomach, more lymph nodes, and nearby organs, such as the spleen, pancreas, adrenal gland, abdomen wall, small intestine, colon, abdomen wall, diaphragm, or kidney.
- Stage IV: Spread of cancer to other parts of the body , such as the lungs, bones, liver, lining of the abdomen, and distant lymph nodes. A cure is rarely possible at this stage.
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Other Locations Of Pain From Prostate Cancer
Pain during urination
Leg and foot pain from swelling/edema
Shooting, burning or stabbing pain can occur in the lower extremities if a metastasis is pressing against a nerve.
Lower abdominal pain or soreness can occur if a tumor is causing pressure on the organs that surround the prostate.
If youve been having any of the following symptoms, many benign conditions can explain them. But so can prostate cancer. Better safe than sorry.
Get yourself checked out if youve been experiencing any of the following:
Urination discomfort of any sort
Any difficulty with urination
Increased urges to urinate overnight
Loss of bladder control
Reduced flow of urine stream
Appearance of blood in the urine
Numbness in the lower extremities
Unexplained fatigue or weight loss
WARNING: Many of the aforementioned symptoms are signs of advanced disease.
The time to get checked is at the first sign of symptoms, even if they seem trite such as reduced urine stream or having more urges to urinate overnight.
Furthermore, annual PSA tests are highly recommended beginning at age 50 for men at average risk of prostate cancer.
For more information on prostate cancer screening, call Cancer Center Treatments of America at 993-3381.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. Shes also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Early Warning Signs Of Lung Cancer
Many people see a lung cancer diagnosis as a death sentence. Thats understandable, since lung cancer kills more than 1.3 million people a year. But when caught early enough, lung cancer can be treatable and, often, curable. According to the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer that hasnt metastasized, or spread, is slightly more than 50 percent, as compared to nearly 4 percent for lung cancer thats already spread to other organ systems. So pay close attention to these early and sometimes surprising signs of lung cancer, and be assertive about bringing anything suspicious to your doctors attention.
Depression or other mood changesResearchers have recently noted a surprising connection between first-time diagnosis of depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric symptoms and lung cancer. In a surprising number of cases, cancer patients particularly those with lung cancer discover they have a tumor after being referred for psychiatric care. One study that followed more than four million people for ten years, for example, found that when people ages 50 to 64 were referred to a psychiatrist for the first time in their lives, the overall incidence of cancer increased almost fourfold.
What causes it: The connection between anxiety, depression, and lung cancer isnt clear, except that people may be feeling generally subpar without knowing why.
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Common Early Signs Of Stomach Cancer
More than 7 in 100,000 people are diagnosed with stomach cancer each year, while 3 in 100,000 die from the disease. About 0.8% of all men and women will be diagnosed with stomach cancer at some point in their life. As of 2017, 116,525 in the United States were living with stomach cancer.
In 2020, the National Cancer Institute estimates 27,600 new cases of stomach cancer will be diagnosed, which is roughly 1.5% of all new cancer cases. The NCI also projects 11,010 deaths from stomach cancer in 2020, which is 1.8% of all cancer deaths.
Because stomach cancer affects men and women differently, and can be difficult to diagnose, it is crucial to understand its unique traits and the illnesses it can mimic. This article covers the signs and symptoms of stomach cancer, the different disease stages, primary causes, warning signs and how to manage it.
Early Stage Stomach Cancer Symptoms
It is common for people with early stage stomach cancer to experience no symptoms. However, as stomach cancer grows and spreads, it exhibits some telltale signs and symptoms, even while still in the early stages.
Symptoms may include:
- Abdominal pain or vague pain just above the belly button area
- Indigestion, heartburn or vomiting
- Loss of or decrease in appetite
- Weakness or fatigue
- Blood in vomit or stool
- A feeling of fullness after small meals
Many symptoms of early stage stomach cancer are also the symptoms of less serious stomach issues. If you are experiencing any of these signs and symptoms, it is important to see your doctor. The earlier we diagnose the cancer, the more successfully we can treat it.
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New Types Of Treatment Are Being Tested In Clinical Trials
This summary section describes treatments that are being studied in clinical trials. It may not mention every new treatment being studied. Information about clinical trials is available from the NCI website.
Targeted therapy
Targeted therapy is a type of treatment that uses drugs or other substances to identify and attack specific cancer cells. Targeted therapies usually cause less harm to normal cells than chemotherapy or radiation therapy do.
Targeted therapy is being studied for the treatment of childhood stomach cancer that has recurred .
What Are Some Risk Factors For Ovarian Cancer
The exact causes of ovarian cancer are not known. However, studies show that the following risk factors may increase the chance of developing this disease:
- Family history first-degree relatives , especially if two or more have had the disease. A family history of breast or colon cancer also is associated with an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.
- Age most ovarian cancers occur in women 50 years of age or older, with the highest risk in women older than 60.
- Non-childbearing women who have never had children. In fact, the more children a woman has had, the less likely she is to develop ovarian cancer.
- Personal history women who have had breast or colon cancer may be at greater risk.
- Obesity women who are obese have a higher rate of death from ovarian cancer.
- Fertility drugs drugs that cause women to ovulate may slightly increase a womanâs risk.
- Talc some studies suggest that women who have used talc in the genital area for many years may be at increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.
- Hormone replacement therapy some evidence suggests that women who use HRT after menopause may have a slightly increased risk of developing this disease.
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Symptoms If Cancer Has Spread To The Bones
You may have any of these symptoms if your cancer has spread to the bones:
- an ache or pain in the affected bone
- breaks in the bones because they are weaker
- breathlessness, looking pale, bruising and bleeding due to low levels of blood cells blood cells are made in the bone marrow and can be crowded out by the cancer cells
Sometimes when bones are damaged by advanced cancer, the bones release calcium into the blood. This is called hypercalcaemia and can cause various symptoms such as:
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What Should I Do If I Have Symptoms
If you have jaundice, go to your GP or A& E straight away.
If you have any of the other symptoms, you dont know why you have them, and they last four weeks or more, go to your GP.
Give your GP a good description of your symptoms. Mention anything unusual, even if you are not sure if it is relevant. If your GP asks you to come back and see them at a later date, make sure you do. Read more about visiting your GP, and our tips for helping you talk to your GP.
If you have symptoms of pancreatic cancer, its really important that you contact your GP, despite the current situation with coronavirus. Dont worry about your GP or the NHS being too busy at the moment, or it being unsafe.
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