Cancer of the pancreas is rare below the age of 50. Risk factors for pancreatic cancer include smoking, heavy drinking and older age.
Common symptoms of cancer of the pancreas are:
- weight loss
- pain around the stomach and back,
- yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice)
- feeling sick or being sick (vomiting)
- indigestion.
Some of these symptoms are common and have many more likely causes than cancer. So to help doctors decide when a person needs an urgent referral to see a specialist in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), have issued guidelines to GPs in England and Wales.
They advise that anyone with any of the following symptoms should be seen by a specialist within two weeks:
- indigestion with unexplained weight loss, constant tiredness or regular vomiting
- jaundice
- (in someone of 55 years of age or older) frequent indigestion that first started less than a year ago.
A version of these guidelines, written for the public, is available on the NICE website at www.nice.org.uk. Click on the link below to be taken directly to the information on the NICE website: