Worst of all, cancerous tumors in the last stages can be treated. Oncologist MD Pavel Koposov, deputy director of the European Medical Center (EMC) Institute of Oncology, told socialbites.ca about this. He also named the type of cancer that is the most difficult to treat.
According to the doctor, the later oncology is found, the worse the prognosis for the patient.
“Most cases of cancer are asymptomatic. As the disease progresses, patients begin to feel pain and weakness. Most of the time, as soon as the tumor has already metastasized. It is usually 3-4 stages. It is much more difficult to fight cancer at these stages,” he explained.
The specialist named pancreatic cancer among the worst treated cancers. In other words, it is detected at stage 4 in 80% of cases.
“Even an early-stage tumor has a five-year survival rate of around 15-20 percent. Because of the location of the pancreas, surgeries are considered difficult and can have serious complications. Pancreatic cancer is not one of the most common malignant tumors, but it is not very rare. Mostly in patients over the age of 60-65,” he said.
The main risk factors for the development of pancreatic cancer are alcohol abuse, smoking, large amounts of fatty and spicy foods, and diabetes.
“Treatment of pancreatic cancer can be a huge challenge. A surgical operation is far from always possible in about 10-15% of cases and only when there are no metastases yet,” the oncologist warned.
Formerly socialbites.ca Wrote about the tests to be done for early detection of cancer.