What are the early symptoms of pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is such a insidious disease because by the time you know you have it, by the time you lose weight, get significantly jaundiced, or have changes in the bloodstream, it’s usually fairly advanced.

But we're seeing more people walk into the ER with signs of pancreatic cancer that we weren't picking up on in the past. These people have diverticulitis, kidney stones, reflux, and are getting a CT scan to check for cancer. If an internist has any patient over the age of 60 or 65, and they start to show up with mid-abdominal pain, discomfort, maybe a new onset of diabetes, you’re seeing them reflexively get CT scans now. Because of this, we're picking up people before they get the typical symptoms of jaundice, weight loss, and severe pain.

Pancreatic cancer is relatively uncommon, but deadly. It often spreads quickly and tends to have few signs or symptoms in its early stages. As a consequence, it is often not caught until later in the course of the disease when it's harder to treat, which is one reason it is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Get the jump on this deadly disease by knowing your risk factors.

This content originally appeared on doctoroz.com