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Pancreas is a small organ located just beneath the stomach and first part of small intestine. Pancreas is primarily made up of two different compartments with distinctive functional roles.
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The larger one is the exocrine compartment that synthesizes three important types of digestive enzymes that include proteases, lipase and amylase. Proteases help in protein digestion. Lipases assist in lipid breakdown and amylase acts of carbohydrates. The second one is the islet compartment comprising of islet cells of Langerhans or beta cells, which are responsible for the production of insulin, a hormone that is essential for effective absorption and assimilation of glucose inside the body.
Cancer is the single biggest cause of death in dogs. Any malignancy or uncontrolled division of cells inside the pancreas results in pancreatic cancer. As like humans, pancreatic cancer is one of the rarest and deadly forms of cancers affecting dogs. Pancreatic cancer usually originates in the exocrine compartment of the pancreas.
Most important symptoms of pancreatic cancer include weight loss, loss of appetite, lethargy and severe abdominal pain due to inflammation of the pancreas. Pancreatic cancer in dogs also causes pancreatic insufficiency, a medical complication characterized by insufficient production of digestive enzymes by the pancreas.
Pancreatic cancer is considered to have an aggressive biology, thus making it difficult to diagnose and treat. Diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in dogs is confirmed using a variety of blood tests, ultrasound, CT scan and biopsy. Unfortunately, prognosis of pancreatic cancer is poor. Symptoms of this disease appear only when the cancer has proceeded to an advanced stage where there are no effective treatments available to cure the disease. Complete surgical removal of the pancreas is the most preferred treatment in pancreatic cancer. Chemotherapeutic agents such as 5-fluorouracil, mitomycin, doxorubicin and streptozotocin can effectively reduce the severity of the symptoms and improve survival time.
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