WHAT IS PANCREAS?

This is a good place to start. Pancreas is an organ that sits within the abdominal cavity, behind your stomach, and surrounded by your liver and small intestine. You read that right. ‘Pancreas’ is singular– we have one ‘pancreas’. I wasn’t involved in naming it, so I can’t tell you why it’s named that way. But what I can tell you, is that the pancreas is spongy, fish-shaped, about 6-10 inches long, and is placed horizontally across the abdomen. Also, names like ‘Suhas’, ‘James’, and ‘Yunus’ are also for single individuals who don’t necessarily occur in pairs except, of course, if they have a twin brother or sister.

WHAT DOES THE PANCREAS DO?

You’re asking all the right questions! The pancreas is a vital organ – as is your heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and spleen- with two crucial roles:

1. Endocrine: Making enzymes that help the body digest food

• Trypsin and chymotrypsin: Their names may be complicated, but all you need to know is that they are the enzymes that digest protein
• Amylase: Its the name of the pancreatic enzyme responsible for digesting carbohydrates
• Lipase: This enzyme digests lipids (or fats)

2. Exocrine: Making hormones that control blood sugar levels

Specialized pancreatic cells called islet of Langerhans – I wasn’t involved in naming this either – produce hormones and release them into the bloodstream. There are 2 important hormones produced by the pancreas. These are:

• Insulin: You’re already familiar with this hormone, who’s job is to lower blood sugar. Yes, you just increased your knowledge about diabetes right here!
• Glucagon: Its job is to raise blood sugar levels. This might seem like an odd thing, because we only hear about the need to lower blood sugar given that we’re in the diabetes capital of the world. However, the truth is that without glucagon, we’d have no way of keeping our blood sugar levels from dropping too low and causing ‘hypo’glycemia aka low blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be quite problematic as it can cause decreased energy, lethargy, dizziness, fainting and, in extreme cases, even coma.

It’s a delicate balance between high blood sugar and low blood sugar, and the critical task of maintaining this balance is what the exocrine function of the pancreas is.

Look at you learning so much! You now understand that the pancreas is an important organ with an important job even though it looks like a flat fish, and its health is definitely worthy of attention. This is precisely why we celebrate Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.

Pancreatic cancer awareness is important because: 

• Many people aren’t aware that pancreatic cancer can affect anyone, 
• Pancreatic cancer can be difficult to diagnose early,
• It is most effectively treated when detected early, and 
• Understanding early signs, one’s risks, and available screening tests for pancreatic cancer can save lives. 

But you’re aware now, and that’s really going to do you good. Well done! 

What follows is valuable information about early diagnosis, understanding your risk, and what you can do to screen. Let me assure you that what you will read below will be useful, easy to understand, and not an overload of unnecessary, out-of-context, or scary information. There’s Google for that :P. And from working with patients who Google everything they possibly can before an appointment, I understand how the word ‘cancer’ may be scary, and that itself can sometimes make us wanna not even read about it. However, as a genetic counselor, what I can tell you is that knowledge is power, timely screening saves lives, and you already know that prevention is better than cure. So let’s do this, and keep reading. You can thank me later in the comments.