Pancreas cancer

More about your pancreas and bile duct

Your

pancreas
Your pancreas is an organ that's behind your stomach. It makes several different chemicals. Some of the chemicals help your body digest food. Your pancreas also makes a chemical called insulin, which helps your body use the sugar in your blood.

pancreas makes juices that help break down food.

Source:
National Cancer Institute.
What you need to know about cancer of the pancreas.
September 2002. Available at http://cancer.gov/cancerinfo/wyntk/pancreas (accessed on 17 April 2009).

Source:
Johns Hopkins Medicine.
The Sol Goodman pancreatic cancer research center.
Available at http://pathology.jhu.edu/pancreas/ (accessed on 17 April 2009).

Pancreatic juices come out of your pancreas through a network of small tubes, called ducts.
The juices drain into a larger tube called the pancreatic duct.
Your pancreatic duct empties into your duodenum, the part of your intestines just below your stomach.

When you eat, food is stored and mixed with acid in your stomach. Partly digested food passes out of your stomach into the duodenum. The flow of food is controlled by a valve between your stomach and your duodenum.

The different parts of your pancreas are called the head, neck, body and tail.

In your duodenum, pancreatic juices help to break down the food from your stomach.
The juices travel with the food through your intestines. As the food is broken down, your body absorbs the nutrients and water through your intestines.

Your common bile duct carries a fluid called bile.

Source:
McMinn RMH, Gaddum-Rosse P, Hutchings RT, et al.
McMinn's Functional and Clinical Anatomy.
1st edition. Mosby, London, UK; 1995.

³ If you have pancreas cancer and your common bile duct is blocked, bile can't flow through and out into your duodenum.

Bile is a yellow-green fluid.
It's made in your liver and stored in your gallbladder, a small bag that lies under your liver.
It helps to break down fats in the duodenum.
Bile also contains bilirubin. This is a waste product from worn-out blood cells. Old blood cells are broken up in your liver. Bilirubin is reddish-brown. It passes through your intestines and into your stools, giving them their brown color.

Sources for the information on this page:

National Cancer Institute.What you need to know about cancer of the pancreas.September 2002. Available at http://cancer.gov/cancerinfo/wyntk/pancreas (accessed on 17 April 2009).

Johns Hopkins Medicine.The Sol Goodman pancreatic cancer research center.Available at http://pathology.jhu.edu/pancreas/ (accessed on 17 April 2009).

McMinn RMH, Gaddum-Rosse P, Hutchings RT, et al.McMinn's Functional and Clinical Anatomy.1st edition. Mosby, London, UK; 1995.

This information was last updated on Apr 22, 2009

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
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