The pancreas is a large gland responsible for the production of digestive juices and hormones located in the top part of your tummy, just behind your stomach.
Pancreatic cancer is a form of cancer that starts in the pancreas as a result of abnormal growth of cells in this gland. It is the tenth most common cancer in the UK.
Sadly, it is rarely caught at an early stage since the symptoms are not manifested until it progresses beyond the point of early intervention.
It is usually when the cancer reaches more advanced stage that certain symptoms start to become noticeable. But even then, they can be vague and similar to those caused by a number of other conditions.
The symptoms vary depending on what part of the pancreas — the head, body or tail — the cancer develops.
Some of the most common signs, as described by Cancer Research UK, are as follows:
Pain in the stomach or back
Chronic or unexplained abdominal pain that can spread to the back may be a sign of pancreatic cancer. This pain is especially felt after eating.
At the early stages, the pain may come and go, but as the tumor grows larger it tends to be more constant and last longer
