Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

The most typical symptom of pancreatic cancer is painless jaundice. There are two main types of diseases that cause painless jaundice. In addition to pancreatic cancer, there is also bile duct cancer, which can be divided into ampullary cancer and common bile duct cancer.

The so-called ampulla refers to the bulging part at the lower end of the common bile duct, which is like the bulging belly of a teapot. It is figuratively called the ampulla, and it is also a place where cancer is prone to occur. In terms of blocking the bile passage, pancreatic head cancer compresses the bile duct from the outside, while ampulla cancer blocks the bile duct from the inside. Because they are both cancers, they gradually grow larger and become progressive blockages, and they are both painless. This can be distinguished from the painful jaundice caused by gallstones or inflammation of the gallbladder and bile duct. Some mud-like stones may also be painless, but there must be a history of pain attacks. As for the differentiation between pancreatic head cancer and bile duct cancer, it depends on examination.

If an insulinoma grows in the head of the pancreas, it may also present similar symptoms, but insulinomas must have typical paroxysmal hypoglycemia, with blood sugar levels falling below 2.8 mmol/l and symptoms disappearing immediately after intravenous glucose injection.

Gastrinoma may also present with similar symptoms, but gastrinoma also has its own unique triad of symptoms, namely severe peptic ulcer, high gastric juice and high gastric acid secretion, which can be used for differentiation.

Pancreatic lymphoma also has similar manifestations, which requires imaging examinations and tumor marker testing.