Contents:
- Medical Video: Mayo Clinic Minute: The link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer
- Relationship between diabetes and pancreatic cancer
- Diabetes medications are thought to increase the risk of this cancer
- Further research is needed regarding these findings
Medical Video: Mayo Clinic Minute: The link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer
Diabetes and pancreatic cancer affect the same organ, the pancreas. The pancreas is a small organ found in the stomach and under the rib cage. The pancreas has two main functions, namely producing digestive chemicals to help digest food, and produce hormones to regulate blood sugar levels.
Various studies have linked diabetes with pancreatic cancer, and vice versa.
Relationship between diabetes and pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is the development of abnormal tissue in the pancreas. This type of cancer usually spreads quickly and is rarely detected at an early stage. Signs and symptoms of cancer in the pancreas may not appear until the cancer is severe.
Over the years, studies have looked at the relationship between diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Reporting from WebMD, Lynn Matrisian, PhD, head of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network in the United States said that diabetes and cancer in the pancreas is indeed going both ways.
Researchers don't know the exact cause. However, people who have diabetes for several years are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than those who do not have diabetes. In fact, it is also known that cancer in the pancreas can also cause diabetes. This is because about half of people with this cancer have relatively high blood sugar. When the cancer is removed surgically, the patient's blood sugar levels tend to return to normal.
Other research also shows the same thing. Research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that most people who have cancer in the pancreas are known to have had a history of diabetes. Dr. Veronica Wendy Setiawan, one of the cancer researchers at the Keck School of Medicine from the University of Southern California, said that more than 50 percent of people with pancreatic cancer had been diagnosed with diabetes for three years before he was diagnosed with cancer.
Diabetes medications are thought to increase the risk of this cancer
A study focused on two subclasses of new drugs from a class of drugs that treat type 2 diabetes, known as incretin mimetics. The two subclasses are glucagon-like peptide - 1 (GLP - 1) agonist (eg exenatide), and dipeptidyl peptidase - 4 inihibitors (DPP-4) (eg sitagliptin).
This drug is usually used when the first treatment of diabetes does not work well.Both drugs affect the pancreas. This is the cause of initial concern about the side effects of this drug in the pancreas.
Evidence of research shows that drug use may risk increasing pancreatic inflammation, including the risk of cancer in pancreatic tissue, and exacerbating existing pancreatic cancer.
Further research is needed regarding these findings
However, further research is still needed to confirm this suspicion. New conclusions about the safety risks associated with the two diabetes drugs have not yet been reached, so it has not been determined whether these drugs can cause or contribute to the occurrence of pancreatic cancer.
For now, if you have been prescribed this medicine from a doctor and have some concerns, you should discuss it with your doctor.
Do not stop taking diabetes medications unless you are directed to do so with the approval of your doctor. If you stop taking this medication without medical advice, you have a higher risk of developing diabetes-related complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney damage and even blindness, rather than the risk of pancreatic cancer getting worse.
