Pancreatic cancer is sometimes called a "silent killer" because early pancreatic cancer often does not cause symptoms, and the later symptoms are usually non-specific and varied. Therefore, pancreatic cancer is often not diagnosed until it is advanced.


The main symptoms of pancreatic cancer include the following:

• Pain in the upper abdomen that typically radiates to the back (seen in carcinoma of the body or tail of the pancreas)(Pain in the abdomen, the back, or both)
• Loss of appetite and/or nausea and vomiting
• Significant weight loss often associated with the following:
  Loss of appetite (anorexia),Bloating,Diarrhea or fatty bowel movements that float in water (steatorrhea)
• Rarely may present with new diabetes in a person with weight loss and nausea
• Painless jaundice (yellow skin/eyes, dark urine) a cancer of the head of the pancreas (about 60% of cases) obstructs the common bile duct as it runs through the pancreas. This may also cause pale-colored stool and steatorrhea.
• Trousseau sign, in which blood clots form spontaneously in the portal blood vessels, the deep veins of the extremities, or the superficial veins anywhere on the body, is sometimes associated with pancreatic cancer.
• Diabetes mellitus, or elevated blood sugar levels. Many patients with pancreatic cancer develop diabetes months to even years before they are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, suggesting that new onset diabetes in an elderly individual may be an early warning sign of pancreatic cancer.
• Clinical depression has been reported in association with pancreatic cancer, sometimes presenting before the cancer is diagnosed. However, the mechanism for this association is not known.

The symptoms of pancreatic cancer are generally vague and can easily be attributed to other less serious and more common conditions. This lack of specific symptoms explains the high number of people who have a more advanced stage of disease when pancreatic cancer is discovered.

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