Are all pancreatic tumors cancerous? Not necessarily

Are all tumors on the pancreas cancer? Cancer that grows in the lungs is collectively called lung cancer, and cancer that grows in the intestines is collectively called intestinal cancer. It is precisely this inertial thinking that once a person is diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor, they will mistakenly say it is pancreatic cancer. So, are all tumors on the pancreas cancer? Let's take a look at the expert's explanation.

Although both pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and pancreatic cancer "grow" in the pancreas, they are very different in terms of incidence, pathogenic mechanism, treatment, prognosis and survival. The malignancy of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors is far less "dangerous" than pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are a type of neuroendocrine tumor, a group of heterogeneous tumors originating from peptidergic neurons and neuroendocrine cells. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are a rare disease with an incidence of about 0.3/100,000, accounting for less than 10% of pancreatic tumors. In recent years, studies have found that it is prone to distant metastasis, with a rate as high as 64%. Fortunately, neuroendocrine tumors are indolent tumors that grow and develop slowly.

The long-term survival rate of patients with early pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors after surgery can reach 100%. Even the 5-year survival rate of patients with late-stage pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors can reach 40%. If it can be discovered early, it is still a clinically curable tumor.

Compared with pancreatic cancer, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are more "docile". As tumors located deep in the retroperitoneum, they also have atypical early symptoms and no early signals.

Some neuroendocrine tumors produce some hormones and cause some chronic disease symptoms. For example, insulinomas secrete a large amount of insulin, which manifests as hypoglycemia; glucagonomas secrete a large amount of glucagon, which manifests as hyperglycemia, diarrhea and other symptoms; gastrinomas secrete a large amount of gastrin, which manifests as abdominal pain, gastric ulcers and other symptoms. Clinically, these pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors that produce special hormones are collectively referred to as functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Although pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors send out early "signals", their atypical symptoms are often ignored by patients. Therefore, when similar symptoms appear, you should first go to pancreatic surgery to rule out the tumor, and then undergo chronic disease treatment to buy yourself a chance of survival.