It is a cancer that is said to have a very minimal survival rate if undetected and unoperated at the initial stage. Statistics suggest a five times rise in pancreatic cancer in India in the last few decades. Reports suggests that the cancer is more common in men than in women.
The disease begins with no known reasons, and therefore the scientists have, till date, not been able to pinpoint the exact reason for pancreatic cancer. However, certain lifestyle factors have been thought to have been the culprit such as smoking, drinking, and obesity.
The reason why the disease can get undetected is because of the location of the organ in the body. Pancreas is located in the posterior part of the body, the early tumour escapes the diagnosis of the doctor. It is only when the tumour begins to spread that the patient begins to start showing symptoms.
Some of the most commonly observed signs of the onset of pancreatic cancer are sudden weight loss, jaundice, diabetes, itching on the skin. Timely intervention and awareness can help rapidly growing disease which has a survival rate of barely 29% if gone undetected at early stage.