How long can you live with malignant pancreatic cancer

How long can patients with malignant pancreatic cancer live? What are the symptoms of near-death? Malignant pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor disease with many symptoms and is difficult to treat. Patients with malignant pancreatic cancer can only prolong their lifespan through various means.

Symptoms of death from pancreatic cancer:

1. Abdominal mass. Malignant pancreas is deep in the posterior abdomen and difficult to feel. Abdominal mass is the result of the development of the cancer itself. It is located at the site of the lesion. If a mass has been felt, it is mostly in the advanced stage or late stage. Chronic malignant pancreatitis can also feel a mass, which is difficult to distinguish from malignant pancreatic cancer. Malignant pancreatic cancer can cause enlargement of the bile duct and gallbladder inside and outside the liver and cholestatic enlargement of the liver, so an enlarged liver and gallbladder can be felt. The tumor is irregular in shape, of varying sizes, firm and stable, and may have significant tenderness. Because lesions in the head of the pancreas often have other obvious symptoms before the appearance of the mass, the abdominal mass caused by this disease is relatively more common in pancreatic body and tail cancer. When the cancer compresses the abdominal aorta or splenic artery, a blowing-like vascular murmur can be heard around the umbilicus or in the left upper abdomen. Sometimes the abdominal mass is an enlarged liver and gallbladder, and there are also malignant pancreatic cancer complicated by malignant pancreatic cysts.

2. Weight loss and fatigue. Malignant pancreatic cancer is different from other cancers in that it often causes weight loss and fatigue in the early stages. This symptom has nothing to do with the location of the tumor. Among digestive tract tumors, malignant pancreatic cancer causes the most prominent weight loss. Significant weight loss occurs within a short period of time after the onset of the disease, and the weight loss can reach more than 30 pounds, accompanied by symptoms such as weakness and fatigue. Some patients experience progressive weight loss before other symptoms appear. The reason for weight loss is loss of appetite, reduced food intake, or refusal to eat despite having an appetite due to upper abdominal discomfort or abdominal pain after eating. In addition, there is a certain connection between poor external secretion function of the malignant pancreas or obstruction of the outflow of pancreatic juice through the malignant pancreatic duct, which affects the digestion and absorption functions.

3. Thrombophlebitis Patients with malignant pancreatic cancer may present with migratory thrombophlebitis or arterial thrombosis. If there is deep vein thrombosis in the lower extremities, it may cause edema of the affected lower extremities. Autopsy data show that the incidence of arterial and venous thrombosis is about 25%, which seems to be more common in pancreatic body and tail cancer. Cancer can secrete certain substances that promote thrombosis. For example, portal vein thrombosis can cause varicose veins or ascites at the lower end of the esophagus, and splenic vein thrombosis can cause splenomegaly. These patients are prone to acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

4. Mental symptoms Some patients with malignant pancreatic cancer may experience mental symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, depression, personality changes, etc. The mechanism of its occurrence is still unclear, but it may be because malignant pancreatic cancer patients often have symptoms such as intractable abdominal pain, insomnia, and inability to eat, which can easily affect their spirit and mood.

5. Symptomatic diabetes: A small number of patients initially present with symptoms of diabetes, that is, they develop diabetes before the main symptoms of pancreatic cancer, such as abdominal pain and jaundice, appear, so that the accompanying weight loss and weight loss are mistakenly regarded as manifestations of diabetes, and pancreatic cancer is not considered; it can also be manifested as a patient with long-term diabetes who has recently worsened his condition, or the treatment methods that have been able to control the condition for a long time have become ineffective, indicating that pancreatic cancer may have developed on the basis of the original diabetes. Therefore, if a diabetic patient has persistent abdominal pain, or an elderly person suddenly develops diabetes, or a patient with existing diabetes suddenly worsens his condition recently, he should be alert to the possibility of pancreatic cancer.

6. Other symptoms In addition, patients often complain of fever and obvious fatigue. There may be high fever and even chills, which are similar to symptoms of cholangitis, so it is easy to be confused with cholelithiasis and cholangitis. Of course, when there is bile duct obstruction and infection, there may also be chills and high fever. Local patients may also have redness, swelling, pain, heat in small joints, subcutaneous fat necrosis around joints, and testicular pain of unknown cause. The supraclavicular, axillary or inguinal lymph nodes may also swell and harden due to the metastasis of malignant pancreatic cancer.

The above is an introduction to the symptoms of malignant pancreatic cancer that indicates imminent death. We hope that patients with malignant pancreatic cancer will pay attention to care and treatment, control the disease, and not let malignant pancreatic cancer become more serious.