What is pancreatic cancer

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What is pancreatic cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is relatively uncommon. It develops in about 1 in 10,000 people each year in the UK. There are several types of pancreatic cancer, but more than 9 in 10 cases are 'ductal adenocarcinomas'.

Ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas

This type of cancer develops from a cell which becomes cancerous in the pancreatic duct. This multiplies and a tumour then develops in and around the duct. As the tumour enlarges:

It can block the bile duct or the main pancreatic duct. This stops the drainage of bile and/or pancreatic fluid into the duodenum.
It invades deeper into the pancreas. In time it may pass through the wall of the pancreas and invade nearby organs such as the duodenum, stomach or liver.
Some cells may break off into the lymph channels or bloodstream. The cancer may then spread to nearby lymph nodes or spread to other areas of the body (metastasise).

Other types of pancreatic cancer

There are some rare types of cancer which arise from other types of cells within the pancreas. For example, cells in the pancreas that make insulin or glucagon can become cancerous ('insulinomas' and 'glucagonomas'). These behave differently to ductal adenocarcinoma. For example, they may produce too much insulin or glucagon which can cause various symptoms.

The rest of this leaflet only discusses ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.