What is pancreatic cancer, what are the symptoms of the disease Aretha Franklin fought and what does the pancreas do?
PANCREATIC cancer is the eleventh most common type of cancer in the UK and the sixth highest cause of cancer death.
The disease - which soul legend Aretha Franklin battled for years before her death aged 76 - affects a large gland that is part of the digestive system.
What is pancreatic cancer?
The pancreas is an elongated gland located behind the stomach and under the liver.
It has two main functions: dripping digestive enzymes into the gut to help break down food, and releasing the hormones insulin and glucagon to regulate blood sugar.
Pancreatic cancer occurs when malignant - cancerous - cells form in the tissues of the pancreas.
Around 9,800 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK every year - 27 a day.
It is more common in older people and rare in people under 40.
Almost half of all new cases are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over.
Survival rates in England and Wales have hardly improved in 40 years and are among the lowest of all cancers, partly because it is usually diagnosed late.
Only three per cent of patients are alive five years after diagnosis and only one in 100 survive for ten years, .
Just 21 per cent of patients will live longer than a year.
What are the symptoms and causes?
The causes of the disease are not exactly known but there are several risk factors that can make someone more likely to get the disease.
and list some of these as smoking, obesity, diabetes, past radiotherapy treatment, chronic pancreatitis, stomach ulcers, Helicobacter or hepatitis B infection, and genetic factors.
According to the most common type of pancreatic cancer is PDAC - pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
There are also rarer forms of the disease.
Symptoms for PDAC can be quite vague and may come and go in the early stages.
Common symptoms include abdominal and back pain, unexplained weight loss and jaundice.
Other symptoms can include:
- loss of appetite
- changes to bowel habits such as diarrhoea or constipation
- indigestion
- nausea and vomiting
- difficulty swallowing
Patients may also suffer the symptoms of diabetes because pancreatic disease stops the production of insulin.
Symptoms for the rarer varieties can vary but can also include some of the signs listed above.
Which celebrities have suffered from the illness?
Soul legend Aretha Franklin passed away aged 76 following an eight-year battle with cancer.
The first woman to be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Aretha died on August 16 2018.
The Respect singer was diagnosed with an "unspecified illness" - which was widely reported to be pancreatic cancer - in 2010.
She received hospice care at her home in Detroit, where she died following her long battle.
Tributes have been pouring in for the mum-of-four, with Mariah Carey, Bill Clinton, Barbara Streisand and Missy Elliot leading the condolences.
Several other celebrities have suffered from the deadly disease, including Apple CEO Steve Jobs and American actor Patrick Swayze.
British actor Alan Rickman was diagnosed in 2015 and passed away in January 2016 following a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
Michael Jackson's dad Joe died at the age of 89 on June 27, 2018.
A report by TMZ said he had been in a Las Vegas hospital for terminal pancreatic cancer, but this has not been confirmed by the family.
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The website reported he had suffered health problems for many years, with trips to hospital in 2015 and 2016 for heart attacks and high fevers.
Just days before his death, Joe sent his last tweet, featuring himself looking out across a sunset.
He captioned it: "I have seen more sunsets than I have left to see. The sun rises when the time comes and whether you like it or not the sun sets when the time comes."
What does the pancreas do?
The pancreas has two main functions for your body.
It creates hormones to regulate blood sugar levels and produces chemicals to help digestion.
It also neutralises excess acid in the stomach.