What Are The Diffrent Stages Of Pancreatic Cancer?

[Galaway]

I'm writing a book where the main characters' father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is dying, so I would like to learn as much as possible about it as I can.



So what are the stages and what are they called?


What does it do to your body as it advances?


Are all stages lethal and if so how long is your life expectancy?





Thanks for the help -A

[rowyn]

I'm writing a book where the main characters' father is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is dying, so I would like to learn as much as possible about it as I can.


So what are the stages and what are they called?

What does it do to your body as it advances?

Are all stages lethal and if so how long is your life expectancy?

Thanks for the help -A

[Chumin]

- Stage 0: No spread. Pancreatic cancer is limited to a single layer of cells in the pancreas. The pancreatic cancer is not visible on imaging tests or even to the naked eye.

- Stage I: Local growth. Pancreatic cancer is limited to the pancreas, but has grown to less than 2 centimeters across (stage IA) or greater than 2 centimeters (stage IB).

- Stage II: Local spread. Pancreatic cancer has grown outside the pancreas, or has spread to nearby lymph nodes.

- Stage III: Wider spread. The tumor has expanded into nearby major blood vessels or nerves but has not metastasized.

- Stage IV: Confirmed spread. Pancreatic cancer has spread to distant organs.

No, not all stages, even Stage IV is lethal... Some stage IV cases can be treated, in order to be lethal, it should be classified as terminal cancer by the doctor, meaning no surgery is possible, treatment is not working, and it did fatal damages to pancreas or other organs, such as lungs, brains or others.

Life expectancy differs from one person to another, someone with a good overall health can live for 1 year, that is a really long time for a terminal/ end-stage cancer. But the average life expectancy for terminal pancreatic cancer is around 2-6.

Pancreatic cancer is very very dangerous. Because the pancreas secretes hormones and enzymes to digest our fats. One of those hormones is insulin, which prompts the body to use sugar in the blood rather than fat as energy. Its levels are low in diabetic patients, who suffer from abnormally high blood sugar. Weight loss, abdominal pain, jaundice (a yellowing of the skin due to toxic buildup in the liver)?those are the most common symptoms. They usually start after the tumor is a significant size. By then, chances are, it has metastasized (that is, spread to other parts of the body).

It can cause a lot of things in body, like trouble breathing if it spread to the lungs, seizures if it spread to the brain, liver failure if it spread to liver, and so on...