Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is deadly.  Only one out of a hundred people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is likely to survive. 

Unfortunately, the symptoms are hard to recognize, and often don't develop until the later stages of pancreatic cancer occur..   Once the symptoms has been recognized, and a diagnosis has been made, the next step is to start pancreatic cancer treatment. 

In this article, we will discuss the different pancreatic cancer treatments available currently. 

Pancreatic cancer has four stages.  Depending upon the stage, the treatment will be different. 

Often times, pancreatic cancer is not treated in the first stage, because it is not yet recognized.  In later stages, the cancer may have spread in two nearby tissue, or has entered the lymph system or blood. 

There have been recent advances in pancreatic cancer treatment.  Surgical removal of tumors of the pancreas, which were previously impossible due to blood vessel involvement, are now possible and some cases. 

These are treated with what is known as the Whipple procedure. The Whipple procedure is also known as a pancreaticoduodenectomy. 

This treatment typically is performed to remove cancer tumors on the head of the pancreas.   The Whipple procedure is a complex process which consists of removing the gallbladder, the distal half of the stomach, a portion of the common bile duct, as well as the head of the pancreas, duodenum, proximal jejunum and certain lymph nodes as well.  

Once a risky procedure, the current mortality rate from a Whipple procedure is about 5% nationwide.  In high-volume academic centers, the mortality rate is even less, around 2%. Another pancreatic cancer treatment that has been unsuccessful is a pancreatectomy.

In this instance, the whole pancreas is removed.  The problem with this is that most patients who have this operation will develop an extremely severe form of diabetes.  

Also, certain drugs have been administered, and has shown success in improving the survival rate of those who suffer from pancreatic cancer.  However, the demonstrated survival rate has only been about four weeks, so the results aren't compelling with medication, so far. 

Currently, a vaccine is being worked on and tested to stop pancreatic cancer from occurring. While there are still needs to be more testing done, the results so far look promising.   Most patients who suffer from pancreatic cancer undergo chemotherapy, and are administered chemotherapeutic drugs to make the process as painless as possible. 

In conclusion, I've given you some of the various different pancreatic cancer treatments.

Pancreatic Cancer |