Pancreatic Cancer Treatments Focus On Either Shrinking The Cancerous Tumor, Removing It, Or Treating The Growth's Symptoms.
A number of pancreatic cancer treatments exist. They focus on either shrinking the cancerous tumor, removing it, or treating the growth's symptoms. However, though pancreatic cancer treatments have advanced over the years, they still give people with the disease only a slight increase in survival rates. Even with full treatment, almost all sufferers die of the disease. Of the over 30,000 people diagnosed with the condition each year in the U.S., more than 29,000 die within a few months from the cancer tumors' effects. In fact, pancreas cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Even so, the treatments give pancreas cancer patients a few more months to enjoy life.
Of the treatments for pancreatic cancer, surgery is the most common option. It is also the best way to treat the cancer tumors. Doctors employ two types of surgery when dealing with pancreatic cancer. They are potentially curative surgery and palliative surgery. If tests determine that the tumor is in an operable position and that the surgery can possibly remove the cancer, doctors use curative surgery. To fill these conditions, the pancreatic cancer tumor usually has to be growing on the head of the pancreas. They fit the requirements because their symptoms – jaundice, abdominal pain, weight loss – appear early, unlike tumors on the body or tail of the pancreas.
There are three types of potentially curative pancreatic cancer surgery, but the most-used is the pancreaticoduodenectomy, commonly known as the Whipple procedure. In this surgery, doctors remove cancerous growths from pancreas. Surgeons cut out the pancreas head, thought they try to preserve as much of the pancreas as possible while still removing all malignant growth. In the interest of preventing further spread, or metastasis, they also take the gallbladder. Sections of the small intestine, stomach, lymph nodes, and common bile duct near the pancreas go as well.
The Whipple procedure is dangerous for the patient and difficult for the surgeon. Complications kill as many as 15 percent of patients, and even in the best facilities 2 to 5 percent still die. And after the tumor has been removed, still only 20 percent of patients live past 5 years. The other types are distal pancreatectomy and total pancreatectomy. In the first, doctors remove the lower portion of the pancreas. It is rarely used for cancer, however. A total pancreatectomy involves removing the entire pancreas. It shows almost no advantage in pancreatic cancer treatment, so it is normally used to treat non-cancerous growths. Palliative surgery was designed simply to treat tumors' symptoms, mainly jaundice. Tumors can block the bile duct, so surgeons reroute the bile duct directly to the small intestine to allow the bile to enter the digestive tract. Radiation and chemotherapy, usually in combination, are used after surgery. If the tumor is inoperable, radiation and chemo attempt to shrink the tumor to a more manageable size. Sadly, they increase survival times for patients by only a few months, if that. Formerly the most common chemotherapy drug was 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). But now doctors have largely switched to gemcitabine, also called Gemzar. It has better effects than 5-FU, and when used in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs, Gemzar can lengthen patients' lives by 2 to 5 months. When speaking of pancreatic cancer treatments, one must remember that they are not cures. They increase survival rates by a small amount, but for most people, that is all they can do. Surgery, radiation, and chemo's real benefits are reducing the symptoms of the cancer in the last months of life.
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