The pancreas is one organ in our body that belongs to the part of digestive system. This organ has a length of 18 cm and it is located above the abs.
Unfortunately, this organ can also get cancer which is called pancreatic cancer. A tumor may grow in the pancreas area and it gets bigger from stage to stage.
There are four stages of pancreatic cancer that may occur and doctors determine the stage based on the diagnosis result.
Let us discuss the stages of pancreatic cancer that may sign the severity of the disease.
Stages of Pancreatic Cancer
The level of pancreatic cancer severity is divided into four stages starting from stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, and stage 4.
Stage 1 pancreatic cancer is the first stage that is not too dangerous and it may be still curable. Your doctor will take an immediate action to remove the tumor in the pancreas before it spreads to other organs. Sometimes, a patient will not notice that he or she gets pancreatic cancer in the first stage.
Then, it comes to the stage 2 pancreatic cancer in which the tumor is spreading to the tissue and lymph gland and the patient may start to feel the symptoms.
Next, it will continue to the stage 3 where the tumor is spreading to the organs and the tumor is getting bigger.
When pancreatic cancer finally comes to the last stage, the patients will feel more pain. This is the most difficult stage that most of the doctors do not know how to heal it because the tumor already spreads to other organs such as lung, liver, and other organs.
Treatment for Stages of Pancreatic Cancer
From those stages of pancreatic cancer, stage 4 is the most dangerous stage and it is difficult to heal. Nevertheless, doctors will try their efforts to remove the tumor from the organs by conducting some treatments. Some of the treatments are:
· Whipple Operation
Whipple surgery is an operation performed to remove the head of the pancreas organ. This type of surgery is mostly done by doctors for pancreatic cancer cases.
In addition to lifting the head of the pancreas, in this operation is also usually performed removal of some small intestine, gallbladder, and some parts of the bile ducts.
· Total Pancreatectomy Operation
As the name implies, in this total pancreatectomy surgery is done to remove the entire pancreas and some other organs such as the spleen, some small intestine, bile ducts, lymph nodes around the pancreas, as well as some of the stomach.
However, this operation has a significant effect on the patient in which the patient will suffer from diabetes due to no more insulin produced by the pancreas.
· Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is also the best choice to treat many types of cancer to kill the remaining cancer cells after a surgery and then it can also reduce the pain.
However, this chemotherapy may have side effects where you may experience balding, no appetite, nausea, and much more.
Instead of chemotherapy, doctors also suggest patients with pancreatic cancer get radiotherapy that also has the same purposes.
Finally, you will know the stages of pancreatic cancer that may you get when you visit your doctor to get a diagnosis. Your doctors will take an immediate treatment when they notice that there is pancreatic cancer in your body.