{"id":36914,"date":"2021-04-11T19:05:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T09:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hudson.org.au?post_type=disease&p=36914"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:21:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T06:21:53","slug":"pancreatic-cancer","status":"publish","type":"disease","link":"https:\/\/hudson.org.au\/disease\/cancer\/pancreatic-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Pancreatic cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Pancreatic cancer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease. It has the highest mortality rate among all cancers and is the fifth-leading cause of cancer death in Australia. Nearly 4,000 Australians were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020 and more than 3,000 died. Although survival for many types of cancer has improved, pancreatic cancer has only marginally improved. The disease is extremely hard to treat because it is often not diagnosed until a late stage. <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What does the pancreas do?<\/h3>\n \n <\/div>\n
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The pancreas is a gland that sits behind the lower part of your stomach and in front of the spine. Its function is to release enzymes that help you digest food and absorb nutrients produce hormones, including insulin, that process sugar in food and drink.<\/p>\n

What causes pancreatic cancer?<\/h4>\n

It is not yet clear what causes pancreatic cancer. \u00a0All cancers form when cells change their DNA, or the instructions that tell a cell what to do. Theses mutations cause the cells to grow in an uncontrolled manner and continue living after normal cells would die off. This process causes a tumour to form that can spread to nearby organs and other parts of the body (metastasis). \u00a0While scientists do not yet know what starts pancreatic cancer, they have identified risk factors that make people more susceptible to this deadly disease.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What are the risk factors of pancreatic cancer?<\/h3>\n \n <\/div>\n
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Factors that increase the risk of pancreatic cancer include<\/p>\n