What Is Type 3C Diabetes? Why Is Pancreatic Cancer More Common in These Patients?

There are many types of diabetes. The best-known are type 1, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes, which develops during pregnancy. Type 3c diabetes is one of the most recently defined types of diabetes. Also known as pancreatogenic diabetes, type 3 c diabetes may be an early sign of pancreatic cancer.

Type 3c diabetes can develop after damage to the pancreas. Although it differs from other types of diabetes, it is most often mistaken for type 2 diabetes because it is not well known.

What Is Type 3c Diabetes? How Does It Develop?

Insulin enables glucose (sugar) in our blood to enter cells and nourish our bodies. Insulin is a hormone of vital importance secreted by the pancreas. When it is deficient, glucose cannot enter cells and rises excessively in the blood. Type 3c diabetes develops when the pancreas stops producing enough insulin for the body.

How Does Type 3c Diabetes Develop?

Diseases affecting the pancreas cause type 3c diabetes. These include pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), pancreatic cancer, cystic fibrosis and hemochromatosis (iron accumulation / bronze diabetes).

Type 3 c diabetes can also develop after pancreatic surgery.

What Are the Symptoms of Type 3c Diabetes?

• Unintentional weight loss is one of the most important symptoms.
• Abdominal pain
• a feeling of extreme fatigue
• diarrhea and fatty stools can also occur.

Diagnosis of Type 3c Diabetes

The greatest difficulty in diagnosing type 3c diabetes is a lack of awareness. For this reason, many patients with type 3c diabetes are mistakenly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. When pancreatic problems and diabetes occur together, the possibility of type3c diabetes should be kept in mind.

Treatment of Type 3c Diabetes

Treatment can be difficult because the condition can develop for many reasons and can vary according to the damage to the pancreas. According to current guidelines, treatment should begin with metformin. If blood sugar does not decrease sufficiently or weight loss continues, insulin should be added to treatment. An appropriate diet and lifestyle changes will be beneficial, although their effects are debated.

The Relationship Between Type 3c Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. This is because it does not cause noticeable symptoms in its early stages. To date, studies have focused mainly on an association between pancreatic cancer and type 2 diabetes. Most of these studies have not produced strong scientific evidence. The highly complex relationship between pancreatic cancer and type 2 diabetes, as well as the role of obesity in this relationship, contributes greatly to this.

The Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) recently shared the results of a study. The study found that 1 in every 4 patients with pancreatic cancer (26%) developed type 3c diabetes.

Type 3c diabetes is thought to account for approximately 5-10% in Western countries. Because it can often be misdiagnosed as type 2 diabetes, its prevalence may be higher than is generally believed. Nevertheless, correctly diagnosing type 3c diabetes is very valuable both for providing appropriate treatment and for potentially helping with the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.