Pancreatic Cancer Surgery And Treatment Options

Pancreatic cancer usually goes undiagnosed for a very long time because unlike with other forms of cancer, the patients don’t experience the symptoms during the early stage.

People usually don’t feel the need to undergo a pancreatic cancer examination when they spot later symptoms such as:

  • Terrible pain in the upper part of the abdomen which extends to the back of the body as well
  • Uncontrolled and unexplained loss of weight
  • Nausea, vomiting and symptoms of jaundice
  • Clotting of blood in the veins
  • High sugar level
  • Unexplained depression

In case you are experiencing any of these symptoms you should make sure to go through tests and consider undergoing pancreatic cancer surgery.

Types of treatment and their effectiveness

As soon as a patient is diagnosed with this type of cancer, the best advice a surgeon could give is to undergo pancreatic cancer surgery as soon as possible.

When undergoing this treatment it is absolutely necessary to notice that pancreatic cancer surgery is not effective for long term survival. One has to undergo chemotherapy and other related procedures along with the pancreatic cancer surgery.

Whipple surgery

The most rarely used pancreatic cancer surgery treatment is Whipple surgery procedure. This surgery is an extremely major one and it basically engages in the removal of the initial curve of the duodenum along with the head of the pancreas. This surgery is carried out if the patient has a tumor at the head of the pancreas.

Furthermore, doctors do not opt for this surgery as the survival rate is less due to the high risk of bypass involved. In some exceptional cases, this treatment works wonders for the patient.

Resection surgery

Resection procedure is the other type of pancreatic cancer surgery and is widely used. This procedure is known as ‘distal pancreatectomy’ in technical terms and it involves curing the cancer at the pancreatic tail. This is an effective treatment for most of the patients who suffer from pancreatic cancer.

Bypass surgery

When there is a case in which the malignant tumor is encroaching the colon or a part of the duodenum then the bypass pancreatic cancer surgery would prove to be a life saver.

Life after pancreatic cancer surgery

After a successful pancreatic cancer surgery it is definitely advised to undergo chemotherapy sessions. Chemotherapy along with the pancreatic cancer surgery can give a patient a longer and healthier life.

Surgery alone can’t kill all the cancer cells unless coupled with chemotherapy. A patient has to complete several chemotherapy sessions for the surgery to be successful.

Prevention

Though pancreatic cancer surgery and treatments are available, it is very difficult to cure completely because the tumor is diagnosed at a very late stage.

If your family has a history of having pancreatic cancer, a thorough examination at least twice a year can do the trick. Further, you also have to avoid drinking alcoholic drinks and eating foods rich in fats.