Is pancreatic cancer a genetic disease?

Is pancreatic cancer hereditary? Why is pancreatic cancer called the king of cancer? It is because it is too difficult to identify pancreatic cancer in the early stages. Usually only 20% of patients are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the early stages, and more patients are misdiagnosed. In clinic, many family members of patients ask the same question: Will frequent pancreatitis lead to pancreatic cancer? Is pancreatic cancer hereditary? Can it be prevented or treated? The occurrence of pancreatic cancer is caused by many factors, and it should be detected and treated early.

Pancreatic cancer is not caused by heredity. Four factors are likely to cause the disease

1. Genetic factors: less than 10% of people have a family history of pancreatic cancer, while 50% have a family history of hypertension and diabetes. In comparison, pancreatic cancer has little to do with genetics;

2. Environmental factors: Environmental pollution, food pollution, and occupational exposure to carcinogens, such as asbestos, pesticides, fuel, and oil, are also closely related to the occurrence of pancreatic cancer;

3. Behavioral factors: lifestyle, sitting in the car instead of exercising when going out, eating and drinking too much at social events, and then many physical examination indicators rise frequently, which is harmful to human health;

4. Food factors: The so-called "three highs" diet, i.e. high-protein, high-fat and high-calorie foods, will have some adverse effects on the occurrence of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer should be detected and treated early

Pancreatic cancer is already in the late stage when it is discovered, so you need to be highly vigilant. The survival rate of early pancreatic cancer surgery is 75%, while the survival rate of late pancreatic cancer is less than 30%, so early diagnosis of the disease is very important. Professor Chen Rufu reminds that middle-aged and elderly people should be careful if they have six warning symptoms, including yellow face and urine, weight loss, upper abdominal pain, sudden increase in blood sugar, loss of appetite, and acute or chronic pancreatitis without cause. They should go to the pancreas specialist or gastroenterology department of the hospital for imaging examinations, such as B-ultrasound, CT, tumor indicators, etc., and must not be ignored.

People at high risk of pancreatic cancer are particularly prone to pancreatic cancer. The following people should pay special attention: those who are over 50 years old, have recurrent pain in the left upper abdomen without any cause, have a family history, have sudden onset of diabetes, chronic pancreatitis, precancerous lesions, familial polyposis, benign lesions (gastric ulcer, gastric bleeding) for more than 20 years, smoke and drink heavily, and are exposed to poisons.

Experts recommend that individuals should have a physical examination once a year, and the physical examination items should include a physical examination for pancreatic diseases. Among the tumor indicators, CA199 and KRA are relatively meaningful for detecting pancreatic cancer. In addition, there are many other items for the examination of pancreatic diseases, such as color Doppler ultrasound, CT, MR, PET-CT (for suspected tumors and some difficult-to-identify retroperitoneal tumors), endoscopic ultrasound (which has both ultrasound and endoscopic functions and can see pancreatic duct, duodenal and pancreatic diseases very clearly), and X-rays.