About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Pancreatic cancer begins in the tissues of your pancreas — an organ in your abdomen that lies horizontally behind the lower part of your stomach. Your pancreas secretes enzymes that aid digestion and hormones that help regulate the metabolism of sugars.
Pancreatic cancer often has a poor prognosis, even when diagnosed early. Pancreatic cancer typically spreads rapidly and is seldom detected in its early stages, which is a major reason why it's a leading cause of cancer death. Signs and symptoms may not appear until pancreatic cancer is quite advanced and surgical removal isn't possible.
- What you need to know about cancer of the pancreas. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/pancreas/allpages. Accessed Feb. 17, 2010.
- Pancreatic cancer treatment (PDQ): Health professional version. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/pancreatic/healthprofessional/allpages. Accessed Feb. 17, 2010.
- Drebin JA, et al. Carcinoma of the pancreas. In: Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:1595.
- Freitas D, et al. Medical management of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Pancreatology. 2009;9:223.
- Pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/pancreatic.pdf. Accessed Feb. 17, 2010.
- Locker GY, et al. ASCO 2006 update of recommendations for the use of tumor markers in gastrointestinal cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2006;24:5313.
- Barbara Woodward Lips Patient Education Center. About your Whipple operation. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2006:17.
- Tarceva (prescribing information). Melville, N.Y.: OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.; 2009. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2009/021743s015lbl.pdf. Accessed Feb. 23, 2010.
- Pliarchopoulou K, et al. Pancreatic cancer: Current and future treatment strategies. Cancer Treatment Reviews. 2009;35:431.
- Clark KL, et al. Psychological distress in patients with pancreatic cancer - An understudied group. Psycho-Oncology. In press. Accessed Feb. 23, 2010.
- Distress management. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/distress.pdf. Accessed Feb. 23, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on