What Are the Symptoms of Pancreatic Tumor? How Is It Treated?

The symptoms of pancreatic tumor mainly include abdominal pain, jaundice, and digestive tract symptoms. Surgical treatment and chemotherapy can generally be used to alleviate these symptoms.

1) Abdominal pain is the most common symptom of pancreatic cancer, which is different from the abdominal pain that is relieved after bowel movements. When the tumor compresses the pancreatic duct and causes high pressure, patients may experience dull pain. When the tumor occurs at the outlet of the pancreatic bile duct, patients may experience episodic upper abdominal pain after meals, which is related to the obstruction of bile excretion. The pancreas has a rich innervation, and the nerve fibers mainly come from the abdominal neural plexus. Tumor infiltration and compression of these nerve fiber plexuses can cause severe low back and abdominal pain, often causing patients to sit or lie on their side with arched backs throughout the night, which is mostly a manifestation of advanced disease.

2) Painless jaundice is the most prominent symptom of pancreatic head cancer, accounting for about 30%. Jaundice can appear early, but it is not an early symptom. The color of the stool becomes lighter as the jaundice deepens, eventually appearing as a clay color, and the color of the urine becomes increasingly yellow. Many patients may experience itching of the skin due to obstructive jaundice.

3) Digestive tract symptoms are present in 60% of early pancreatic cancer patients. Most patients have symptoms such as loss of appetite, aversion to greasy food, nausea, vomiting, and indigestion.

1) Surgical treatment is the most traditional and effective method for treating pancreatic tumors. Surgical resection of the tumor can eliminate cancer cells to the greatest extent. However, there are also certain disadvantages to surgery, such as when the lesion of some pancreatic cancer patients has already metastasized, and it is unclear where to start the surgery. In such cases, combining surgical treatment with chemotherapy can improve the efficacy and achieve the best treatment outcome.

2) The purpose of chemotherapy for pancreatic tumor patients is to prolong survival, improve their quality of life, or enhance the effect of surgical treatment as adjuvant therapy. However, many patients may experience severe complications such as hair loss, vomiting, and loss of appetite during chemotherapy. Therefore, whether to receive chemotherapy needs to be decided based on the patient's condition.