Pancreas is a very vital organ of our body and our body depends on this organ to transport the glucose into the cells and this is being done with a hormone known as insulin. If the cells of the pancreas are being burnt out by excess production of insulin then the body will lose a very major function of production of insulin into the blood that would cause the transportation of the glucose into the cells. In this article we will discuss on what pancreas is and what are the different functions of the pancreas and what happens if an individual goes through the cancer of the pancreas and a research that shows that pancreatic cancer can be caused by red meat.

The pancreas is about 6 inches long and it is pear in shape. Discussing the anatomical location of the pancreas, the pancreas is located behind the stomach and it has a collecting duct system that collects the secretions of the pancreas and then transports it to the second part of the duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine. We can divide the pancreas into three different parts, the first part is the head of the pancreas, which is the broader part of the pancreas, the other part of the pancreas is known as the body and the third part of the pancreas is known as the tail.

Pancreas is a very important organ and it does a lot of major functions in our body. Pancreas produces enzymes that help us regulate the digestive tract with the enzymes such as lipase, protease, and amylase. There are also hormones that are being produced by the pancreas and they are known as the insulin and glucagons. The portion of the pancreas that produces the digestive juices is known as the exocrine area of the pancreas and about 95% of the cancers of the pancreas originate from the exocrine pancreas. On the other hand the other part of the pancreas that produces the hormones is known as the endocrine pancreas. It is that only about 5% of the cancers originate from the endocrine pancreas.
The cancer of the pancreas is a very lethal cancer because it just grows pretty aggressively and that it does not take much time to become a full blown metastatic cancer. Another very important thing that needs to be taken into account right now is that this cancer is just surrounded by a lot of different organs such as stomach, small intestine, bile duct, which is a tube that is originating from gallbladder and that joins along with the duct of the pancreas and then opens into the second part of the duodenum, another organ that makes the bed of the pancreas is spleen, which functions to store the red blood cells and stores the red cells and also causes filtration of the red cells.

The most hazardous thing about the pancreatic cancer is that it just grows at a very fast pace and that it just invades the other organ structures around it and causes the spread of the cancer and that is something that is truly devastating for that individual. Like every disease, the cancer of the pancreas also shows its signs and symptoms that includes loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, loss of weight, pain in the upper abdomen, jaundice, as well as radiation of pain to the back. It must be noted here that these symptoms do not appear in the first phase of the cancer and becomes evident in the later stages and this makes it a very horrible disease, because since it spreads so fast in the body, it lessens the chances of survival of the individual.

If you are suffering from any symptoms that are being described as above, then it is recommended that you should get yourself examined by your doctor as soon as possible because these symptoms might represent pancreatic cancer. Your doctor will be sending you for the ultrasound examination and if there are any growths in the pancreas, then they can be seen through the ultrasound examination. Other investigations that can follow an ultrasound examination include a CT scan, as well as an MRI, which is also known as the magnetic resonance imaging. Another test that is done to check the status of the pancreas is the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography through which a dye is being injected into the pancreas and the substance (tissue) of the pancreas can be seen and with the help of it, a biopsy can be performed, and then the tissue that is being drawn is stained and looked under a microscope to see if there are any signs of malignant cells in the specimen obtained. The test known as percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography is done to find out the cancer of the pancreas and along with that there can be seen as to what are the different ducts that are being blocked.

The cancer is being treated through different approaches depending upon the age of the individual, whether they are on any therapies or are undergoing through any other diseases. The first approach that can be adopted if the individual is healthy can be the excision and removal of the gland so that the tumor cells do not progress to any other organs that are close to the pancreas, another approach can be to treat the individual with the chemotherapy or the radiotherapy and these decisions can be taken by a physician or a board of the physicians to discuss and see as to what are the best approaches and the best medicines that can be started so that every thing is discussed in detail in the best possible interest of the individual.

There are other researchers that are being carried out to know as to what are the different things that can cause pancreatic cancer and it was found that the individuals who eat red meat are at high risk of developing pancreatic cancers. The researchers conducted a study in which there were about 61,000 women. These women were followed for over 17 years and it was being studied as to what effects they had with the use of fish, poultry and egg consumption. Along the passage of time it was being found that there were about 172 women who were being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The researchers went into studying the things as to what were the reasons that these women developed pancreatic cancer and it was found that these women were eating red meat over a long period of time whereas on the other hand the women who were using poultry were at a low risk of developing a pancreatic cancer. It was also found that there was no association of pancreatic cancer with the processed meat, fish or the eggs.

This study is going to help a lot in the better understanding of the development of the pancreatic cancer, as this is very important to understand the causes and to prevent that there is a large scale education that needs to be transferred to a lot of individuals so that they can understand that a healthy diet can prevent the development of pancreatic cancer and can save lots of people who can fall victim to this horrible disease.

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