Pancreatic cancer is an extremely deadly cancer, known for high malignancy, rapid tumor proliferation and poor prognosis. It is rarely caught at an early stage and more than 80% of patients are diagnosed at the middle or late stage. The prevention and early detection make a huge significance in lowering the mortality of pancreatic cancer.
Causes
Pancreatic cancer has little to do with heredity and less than 10% of pancreatic cancer is caused by inherited gene changes. Pancreatic cancer is closely related to an unhealthy lifestyle like smoking, drinking and eating high-fat food.
Noticeably, heavy drinking has direct damage to the pancreas, and patients who drink a lot of alcohol tend to get chronic pancreatitis which is known to increase pancreatic cancer. In addition to bad living habits, some diseases like diabetes, cholelithiasis, chronic pancreatitis can also induce pancreatic cancer.
Risk groups
Taking risk factors into account, some people are at greater risk for pancreatic cancer and the following five groups of people are more likely to have pancreatic cancer:
- People over the age of 45, especially those with chronic pancreatitis
- People with diabetes diagnosed by the first time whose blood sugar continues to rise for a period.
- People with a family history of pancreatic cancer
- People who received gastric resection
- People who have smoking, drinking habits
- People who are exposed to chemical poisons for a long-term time.
Survival period
Pancreatic cancer has an extremely poor prognosis. If surgery is available, the survival time of patients with pancreatic cancer can be extended. According to statistics, the 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients after radical surgery can reach 20% and patients who do not receive radical resection have a survival period of only 6-12 months.
Recurrence prevention after surgery
The prevention of pancreatic cancer metastasis and recurrence is important for prolonging a postoperative survival. Metastasis and recurrence are prone to occur after cancer surgery such as liver metastases from pancreatic cancer. Patients who get metastasis after surgery are usually treated with systemic chemotherapy or local radiotherapy.
Adjuvant therapy is regarded as an effective treatment to keep cancer from returning. A large number of studies show that rare ginsenosides can be a promising adjuvant therapy for cancer treatment with a brilliant performance in many aspects, including reducing the risk of cancer metastasis and recurrence after surgery.
Ginsenosides are active ingredients in ginseng. Their metabolites rare ginsenosides were found to exhibit significant anticancer effects in various ways including inhibiting cancer cell growth and proliferation, inducing apoptosis of cancer cells, inhibiting cancer cell invasion and metastasis, and suppressing tumor neovascularization.
Many studies indicated that rare ginsenosides can be promising anticancer agents. A combination of rare ginsenosides with radiotherapy, chemotherapy or targeted therapy can improve the efficiency of treatment because rare ginsenosides can reduce the side effects caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy and reduce multidrug resistance.
Researchers found that rare ginsenosides in combined use with surgery can inhibit the systemic inflammatory response to prevent cancer metastasis and recurrence. Rare ginsenosides can inhibit the inflammation of surgical wound healing, improve patients’ immunity and promote their physical rehabilitation after surgery.
Currently, a combination of rare ginsenosides and surgery has become a therapy choice for many doctors and patients in some countries. Taking rare ginsenosides before and after surgery can improve treatment effects and reduce the risk of cancer metastasis and recurrence.
