Five warning signs of pancreatic cancer revealed after death of The Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, 59

Backache

Pain can also radiate from the abdomen to the back.

This pain is generally persistent and is usually located in the middle of the back or just below the shoulder blades.

As with stomach pain, whether or not this symptom occurs may depend on the specific location of the tumor.

Some patients have only back pain and no abdominal pain, again linked to the specific shape of their tumor and how it presses on other tissues.

Sudden weight loss

People with pancreatic cancer may experience unexplained weight loss.

This can occur due to problems with the pancreas, which helps digest food, itself and/or due to people losing their appetite due to other symptoms such as pain.

Cancers can also drain energy from the body as tumors grow, which can also lead to weight loss.

People with unexplained weight loss combined with other symptoms such as pain or change in bowel habits are advised to speak to their GP.

Floating stools

Unusual changes in bowel habits can be a sign of pancreatic cancer.

This can take the form of constipation or diarrhea due to the general disruption of the digestive process.

But a specific sign can be floating, pale and oily poop.

Medically, steatorrhoea theses are frequent, large bowel movements that are pale in color, smelly, float in the toilet bowl, and are difficult to flush out.

They are caused by fat, which is normally absorbed by the body, but is undigested and passed in the stool.

This is caused by the pancreatic cancer interfering with the normal digestive process and limiting the amounts of pancreatic enzymes released into the intestines.

These enzymes help digest food, and a lack of them leads to problems because undigested food passes quickly through the digestive tract.