Because pancreatic cancer is often advanced when it is first found, very few pancreatic tumors can be removed by surgery. The standard procedure is called a pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple procedure).
This surgery should be done at centers that perform the procedure frequently. Some studies suggest that surgery is best performed at hospitals that do more than five of these surgeries per year.
When the tumor has not spread out of the pancreas but cannot be removed, radiation therapy and chemotherapy together may be recommended.
When the tumor has spread (metastasized) to other organs such as the liver, chemotherapy alone is usually used. The standard chemotherapy drug is gemcitabine, but other drugs may be used. Gemcitabine can help approximately 25% of patients.
Patients whose tumor cannot be totally removed, but who have a blockage of the tubes that transport bile (biliary obstruction) must have that blockage relieved. There are generally two approaches to this:
Surgery
Placement of a tiny metal tube (biliary stent) during ERCP
Management of pain and other symptoms is an important part of treating advanced pancreatic cancer. Hospice can help with pain and symptom management, and provide psychological support for patients and their families during the illness.
Cancer Term:(malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth, invasion that intrudes upon and destroys adjacent tissues, and sometimes metastasis, or spreading to other locations in the body via lymph or blood. These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which do not invade or metastasize. Cancer-ar-foundation