What Causes Pancreatic Cancer?
6. Disease Process
There are two main types of pancreatic tumors and cancers depending on the type of affected tissue: exocrine and endocrine. Exocrine pancreatic tumors and cancers are the most common. They are either benign or malignant but most of them are malignant, meaning they are cancerous.
It can be adenocarcinoma, which starts in the gland cells in the pancreatic ducts, acinar cell carcinoma, which starts in the enzyme cells of the pancreas, ampulla cancer, which starts at the meeting point between the bile duct and pancreatic duct, adenosquamous carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, or giant cell carcinoma.
The second type; endocrine pancreatic cancers are less common. They can either be neuroendocrine or islet-cell tumors.
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