Pancreatic Islet Cell TumorConsidered one of the rarer types of pancreatic problems, a pancreatic islet cell tumor is a tumor or disease that begins developing in the cells of the organ known as the pancreas. This kind of a cancer or tumor develops in the cells that make up your pancreas and when a person has this kind of a cancer, his pancreas essentially produces more insulin than is needed or produces other hormones in excess. This kind of an imbalance or dysfunction results in the person suffering from symptoms like some dizziness or weakness and muscle spasms as well as chills. Other effects to the system that a pancreatic islet cell tumor may generate can include diarrhea and abdominal pains or cramping. This problem is also called by another name, which is islet cell carcinoma, and can mean any of at least five kinds of cancers that manifest themselves in various ways. These include glucagonomas, insulinomas, and gastrinomas. These tumors secrete only one kind of hormone as opposed to the many types of hormones the original islet cells produce. This specific hormone production that a pancreatic islet cell tumor produces can then be used to determine the kind of tumor you have with the specific symptoms that are being generated. How Your Pancreas Works Before we tackle the reasons why a person may develop a pancreatic islet cell tumor as well as wade through some of the types of islet cell carcinomas that can affect man, we should try and understand how the pancreas works. The pancreas is a producer of an enzyme or juice that aids in certain bodily functions. This organ produces insulin that is needed by your body in regulating how it uses and stores food you take in as well as digestive juices that are needed to break down or digest what your body ingests. These two enzymes and hormones developing sides of the pancreas are called the exocrine and the endocrine pancreas. The chances of cancer developing on these two different sides of your pancreas come in percentages where the exocrine side or the digestive juice producing side is the more prone to cancer development. The endocrine side or the hormone producing side of your pancreas is where islet cells are found and this side is less likely to develop cancer as compared to the exocrine side. Incidence of Pancreatic Islet Cell Tumors and Other Pancreatic Problems How a person gets a pancreatic islet cell tumor can usually be traced to a few factors. Some of the factors may include a past history of illnesses related to the problem like multiple endocrine neoplasia. Also called MEN, this type of a hereditary condition usually causes multiple tumors to develop in the afflicted person's endocrine glands like the pituitary and the parathyroid. While a pancreatic islet cell tumor is pretty rare, another pancreatic problem called chronic pancreatitis is not. This problem is often the result of abuse like alcoholism and can be complicated by a pancreatic fistula or fistulas which are results of a pseudocyst or pseudocysts that are essentially benign cysts that are made out of pancreatic fluid. These different pancreatic problems come with different solutions and these solutions may include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, if the tumors that are removed are cancerous. |