Predisposing factors of pancreatic cancer

The occurrence of pancreatic cancer does not happen overnight. It is affected by many factors. Some adverse factors increase the probability of pancreatic cancer, including smoking, pancreatitis and diabetes. The specific introduction is as follows:

1. Smoking

Smoking is the most important environmental factor in the development of pancreatic cancer. The compounds in tobacco are transported to the pancreas and metabolized there, thus inducing pancreatic cancer.

The main ingredients in tobacco that cause pancreatic cancer are aromatic amines, nitrosamines, nitrites, and nicotine. They attack genetic material, causing some genes to be expressed at inappropriate times and locations (i.e., proteins are synthesized under the guidance of these genes). These attacks accumulate over time, and incorrect gene expression gradually pushes the attacked pancreatic cells to the opposite side of human health: cell canceration, invasion and metastasis, leading to human death.

The risk of pancreatic cancer in smokers is about three times higher than that in non-smokers, but quitting smoking for 10 years can reduce it to the same level as normal people. For lifelong smokers, there is a very obvious dose-response relationship between smoking and pancreatic cancer risk in the last 15 years of their lives, that is, the more they smoke, the greater their risk of pancreatic cancer.

2. Chronic pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis is the biggest risk factor for pancreatic cancer, more dangerous than smoking. All forms of chronic pancreatitis can lead to pancreatic cancer. It should be noted that only a small number of patients (3% to 4%) develop pancreatic cancer secondary to pancreatitis.

3. Diabetes

People have long noticed that there is a certain relationship between diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Diabetes may be a risk factor for pancreatic cancer, or it may be an early sign of pancreatic cancer. In other words, in some patients, diabetes causes pancreatic cancer, and in some patients, pancreatic cancer causes diabetes. The key lies in the time sequence of the diagnosis of diabetes and pancreatic cancer. If diabetes is diagnosed first, then the former is more likely; if pancreatic cancer is diagnosed first, then the latter is more likely. Of course, such a judgment requires a rigorous premise: the diagnostic methods we now have are sufficient to detect diabetes and pancreatic cancer at any stage.