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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
It's not clear what causes pancreatic cancer.
Understanding your pancreas
Your pancreas is about 6 inches (about 15 centimeters) long and looks something like a pear lying on its side. The pancreas is a crucial part of your digestive system. It secretes hormones, including insulin, to help your body process sugar. And it produces digestive juices to help your body digest food.
How pancreatic cancer forms
Pancreatic cancer occurs when cells in your pancreas develop mutations in their DNA. These mutations cause cells to grow uncontrollably and to continue living after normal cells would die. These accumulating cells can form a tumor.
Most pancreatic cancer begins in the cells that line the ducts of the pancreas. This type of cancer is called pancreatic adenocarcinoma or pancreatic exocrine cancer.
Rarely, cancer can form in the hormone-producing cells of the pancreas. This type of cancer is called islet cell cancer or pancreatic endocrine cancer.
- What you need to know about cancer of the pancreas. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/pancreas. Accessed Feb. 28, 2012.
- Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008:1595.
- Pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/f_guidelines.asp. Accessed Feb. 28, 2012.
- Tarceva (prescribing information). Farmingdale, N.Y.: OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.; 2011. http://www.tarceva.com/pancreatic/considering/index.jsp. Accessed March 5, 2012.
- Clark KL, et al. Psychological distress in patients with pancreatic cancer - An understudied group. Psycho-Oncology. 2010;19:1313.
- Distress management. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/f_guidelines.asp. Accessed Feb. 28, 2012.
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