Types of Pancreatic Cancer

Most exocrine type pancreatic cancers (95%) are adenocarcinomas.  An adenocarcinoma is epithelial cancer that begins in the glands.  This does not mean the cells must be part of a gland, only that they have excretion features.  The rest of the pancreatic cancers include adenosquamous carcinomas, hepatoid cancer, signet ring cell cancer, colloid cancer, and undifferentiated cancers including some with giant cells resembling osteoclasts.  Endocrine pancreatic tumors only make up 1% of cases.