With the improvement of living standards and the changes in people's living habits, the incidence of cancer is also increasing year by year. Maybe you have heard of common cancers such as liver cancer , lung cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer , but in fact there is another type of cancer, which is more malignant than liver cancer, lung cancer, cervical cancer, etc., and is highly aggressive and metastatic. The patient's 5-year survival rate is only 10%. Many patients die within half a year to one year after the diagnosis. It is pancreatic cancer , known as the king of cancer!
The pancreas is located in our upper left abdomen. Compared with the size of the liver, the pancreas is simply insignificant, but why does such a dangerous cancer occur? What causes pancreatic cancer? Some people say that eating food can easily lead to pancreatic cancer. Is it true? Let's see what the experts say.
Eating food can easily lead to pancreatic cancer?
Although no pancreatic cancer has been found to be a definite relationship with eating voraciously, eating voraciously is not a good eating habit. Gorge and swallow will cause food to enter the digestive tract and reach the stomach without being fully chewed through the mouth and fully digested by saliva, and it will also affect the digestion and absorption of the stomach and small intestine, and will cause malnutrition in the long run. Moreover, if the food particles are too large and too rough, it is more likely to cause indigestion.
At the same time, eating too fast can easily cause food to get stuck in the throat or trachea, causing unnecessary trouble or danger. If the food itself is very hot, eating voraciously will cause heat damage to the esophageal mucosa. If this happens for a long time, esophageal cancer may be triggered, but it is not pancreatic cancer. What factors are related to pancreatic cancer?
4 common causes of pancreatic cancer
1. Genetic factors
Research shows that 10%-15% of pancreatic cancer can be attributed to genetic factors. Some families have pancreatic cancer aggregation phenomenon, and 5%-10% of pancreatic cancer patients have a family history of this disease.
The genetic risk of pancreatic cancer is roughly divided into two categories: pancreatic cancer-related genetic susceptibility syndrome; FPC, that is, a family with one-to-one-degree relative (FDR; that is, parents-child or siblings) suffering from pancreatic cancer, but does not meet the diagnostic criteria for known genetic susceptibility syndromes related to pancreatic cancer.
The main pathogenic genes of most hereditary pancreatic cancers are not yet known. Germline mutations of breast cancer associated genes (BRCA) 1 and 2 are currently the most closely related mutations to FPC, with an incidence rate of 13%-19% in the FPC family.
2. Chronic pancreatitis
Chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer actually share common pathological characteristics. Acer-catheter metaplasia is observed in patients with chronic pancreatitis, which is considered to be a precursor to pancreatic cancer. Chronic pancreatitis can accelerate pancreatic cancer by promoting oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in pancreatic cells.
3. Diabetes
Epidemiology Investigation and research has long confirmed that diabetes is an important risk factor for pancreatic cancer, and the risk of pancreatic cancer in diabetic patients can be increased by 1.5-2 times compared with non-diabetic patients. Although the exact mechanism of diabetes inducing pancreatic cancer is not very clear, it is speculated to be related to metabolic disorders, insulin resistance and systemic chronic inflammation caused by hyperglycemia and autologous hyperinsulinemia .
4. Lifestyle and environmental factors
Nowadays, the relationship between environmental factors and cancer incidence has long been well known, including smoking, alcoholism, high-fat and high-protein diet, etc., can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. Among many environmental factors, smoking is the biggest risk factor affecting the incidence of pancreatic cancer. Cigarettes contain a large number of carcinogenic harmful substances, such as nicotine , butadiene, aldehydes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and tobacco-specific nitrosamines, which will induce the inflammatory response of the pancreas and fibrosis of pancreatic cells, and stimulate abnormal cell proliferation, thereby inducing pancreatic cancer. A high-fat diet will also stimulate the increase in pancreatic secretion, and cells proliferate and induce pancreatic cancer. In addition, obese people are more likely to suffer from acute and chronic pancreatitis, so the risk of pancreatic cancer is also higher.
In short, once pancreatic cancer occurs, treatment is very difficult. We need to realize that the pancreas is a very important digestive organ for us. It can secrete pancreatic juice and insulin , help digest food and control blood sugar. The key to preventing pancreatic cancer is to prevent early and early treatment, actively improve lifestyle, and prevent the occurrence of pancreatic cancer.
References:
[1] Zhao Sihan, Zheng Jian. Research progress on the etiology and pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer [J]. Chinese Journal of Cancer Prevention and Treatment, 2022, 14 (3): 253-263.
[2] Klein AP. Genetic susceptibility to pancreatic cancer. Mol Carcinog 2012; 51:14.
[3] Klein AP, Brune KA, Petersen GM, et al. Prospective risk of pancreatic cancer in familiar pancreatic cancer kindsds. Cancer Res 2004; 64:2634.
