Pancreatic cancer is one of the most important and dangerous cancers that threatens our health and can cause many side effects for us. Smoking and tobacco can cause pancreatic cancer. Jaundice and jaundice are obvious signs of this cancer. It is considered that by performing ultrasound of the abdomen, liver and gallbladder, you can easily diagnose this disease.
The pancreas is a large, elongated gland located deep in the abdomen and behind the stomach that we do not know much about because people do not feel it very well. The pancreas is an important part of the body’s digestive system that helps digest food with the enzymes it secretes, and balances blood sugar with the hormones it secretes. The insulin hormone secreted by the pancreas plays a vital role in controlling blood sugar.
Regarding pancreatic cancer, it should be said that the patient usually realizes his disease when the cancerous masses have progressed and the treatment strategies are not very effective. To learn more about pancreatic cancer and its treatments, we spoke with Alireza Nikofar, a radiotherapy and oncology specialist and professor at Iran University of Medical Sciences.
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common gastrointestinal cancer. Can you explain about this?
Pancreatic cancer is a very deadly cancer and is more deadly than other gastrointestinal tumors. Gastrointestinal tumors range from the esophagus to the stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas, and gallbladder. The fact is that some of these cancers are not very common. For example, gallbladder cancer is not very common, but some are very common. One of the most common cancers in Iran is gastric cancer, which is also one of the most common cancers in the world, but this statistic is strange in Iran. The most common cancers of the gastrointestinal tract in the world are colon or colon cancer, but in Iran it is gastric cancer that the World Health Organization is studying.
How successful have the treatments been?
We have been very successful in treating gastrointestinal cancers, such as colon cancer, and even in patients undergoing rectal surgery, we no longer use the bag in many cases, but radiotherapy and preoperative chemotherapy are used to treat tumors. Shrinks. Many of these patients can have a normal bowel. Therapies used to treat pancreatic cancer worldwide are not as successful as other gastrointestinal cancers, and researchers are working on and researching them. The success of cancer treatment usually depends on the stage of the disease. Pancreatic cancer usually manifests itself when the disease has reached an advanced stage and naturally the patient’s chances of survival are reduced. People with pancreatic cancer usually have a chance to be treated with surgery. In the case of the pancreas, the patient usually comes in late. Even many patients who undergo surgery, as the disease progresses, usually metastasize and spread to places such as the liver. One of the things that can be done to increase the chances of treatment is to refer patients to centers that are more capable of providing treatment options. In pancreatic cancer, several things have been done, including radiation therapy and chemotherapy, preoperative therapy. Some of these tumors are a little bumpy but borderline in the sense that they are neither very advanced nor functional. For these, methods such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy and chemotherapy are considered simultaneously before the operation and the patient is treated. If the tumor becomes small and viable, the patient still has a chance of surviving. Pancreatic cancer surgery is also one of the surgeries that due to the difficulty of the operation and the care that must be performed after the operation, must be performed in specialized and specialized centers and by capable people.
What factors increase the chances of developing pancreatic cancer?
One of the most common causes of pancreatic cancer is alcohol consumption. Bile diseases, pancreatic infections and genetic factors are also very effective. Smoking and tobacco are other risk factors for pancreatic cancer.
What are the dangers of getting this disease?
If the cancerous mass is in the area of the head of the pancreas, they present with jaundice and jaundice due to the pressure it puts on the bile ducts. Some patients present with stabbing headaches. Some just lose weight. There is no specific symptom that we want to mention for pancreatic cancer, so patients usually see a doctor when they notice that the cancer is completely advanced. Regarding the “registration of cancer cases” in the country by the Ministry of Health, all pathologists in the country are required to report all diagnostic statistics of cancer patients in the country so that they can record accurate cancer statistics. But compared to the developed countries of the world, our statistics are not complete yet. In Iran, gastrointestinal cancers are gastric, intestinal, esophageal and pancreatic cancers, respectively, and then other cancers.
Are medical technologies in Iran keeping pace with the world?
Unfortunately, we were not able to import some facilities in Iran due to the sanctions that were imposed. We are not yet able to import the “radioactive source” for the brachytherapy device, and many of the advanced devices are not allowed to be imported, and due to the limitations we had, we are a little behind the world’s treatments. In fact, the use of these advanced technologies and devices reduces the chances of cure and its complications. We do not yet have a “cyberknife” in the country. It is a robotic accelerator that rotates around the patient and reduces constraints during surgery. One of the methods that can be done for pancreatic cancer is intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT), which fortunately exists in Iran.
