Is pancreatic cancer painful3/31/2024 ![]() The majority of tumors are not surgically resectable because of metastasis and invasion of the major vessels posterior to the pancreas. Ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography may provide additional information. Computed tomography is the most useful diagnostic and staging tool. More than one half of cases have distant metastasis at diagnosis. Epigastric or back pain, vague abdominal symptoms, and weight loss also are characteristic of pancreatic cancer. Most patients present with obstructive jaundice caused by compression of the bile duct in the head of the pancreas. The link between risk of pancreatic cancer and other factors (e.g., diabetes, obesity) is less clear. Risk factors include smoking, certain familial cancer syndromes, and familial chronic pancreatitis. The overall five-year survival rate is 4 percent, and localized, resectable disease has only a 17 percent survival rate. ![]() Although only 32,000 new cases of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas occur in the United States each year, it is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in this country. ![]()
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