Surgery for Pancreatic Cancer

Surgery for pancreatic cancer withdrawal is a treatment alternative considered by many oncologists to be the only form of treatment actually able to cure pancreatic cancer, however, this cure is only possible when the cancer is diagnosed in its early stage.

Pancreatic cancer is most common after age 60 and is very aggressive and has a survival rate of about 20% at 10 years after diagnosis even when the person has only 1 small pancreatic adenocarcinoma and no affected lymph nodes. Patients with metastases or unresectable tumor have a life expectancy of only 6 months. Thus, as soon as this disease is discovered, it is necessary to perform tests and to mark the surgery to increase the chances of cure and prolong the life of the patient.

Types of Surgery for Pancreatic Cancer

The main types of surgery to remove pancreatic cancer:

• Gastroduodenopancreatectomy or Whipple Surgery, consists of removing the head from the pancreas and sometimes also part of the body of the pancreas, gallbladder, common bile duct, part of the stomach and duodenum. This surgery has acceptable success rates, and can also be used as a palliative form, as it reduces the discomforts caused by the disease. After this surgery, digestion remains normal because the bile that is produced in the liver, the food and the digestive juices of the remaining part of the pancreas goes directly into the small intestine.
• Duodenopancreatectomy, which is a surgical technique similar to Whipple's surgery, but the lower part of the stomach is not removed.
• Total pancreatectomy, which is a surgery in which the entire pancreas, the duodenum, part of the stomach, spleen and gallbladder is removed. The patient may become diabetic after this surgery because he no longer produces insulin to fight high blood sugar levels because he has withdrawn the whole pancreas, which is responsible for producing insulin.
• Distal pancreatectomy: Spleen and distal pancreas are removed.

In addition to these surgeries, there are palliative procedures that are used when the cancer is already very advanced and include surgeries to treat the symptoms and not to cure the disease. Chemotherapy has a very limited action and is mainly used to mitigate the consequences and improve the quality of life in patients who are not able to undergo surgery or who have metastases.

Exams before surgery

To prepare for surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor is necessary to perform some tests to help identify if there are other areas affected by the tumor. Thus, examinations such as multi-detector tomography of the abdomen, magnetic nuclear resonance, echoendoscopy, positron emission tomography, and laparoscopy are recommended.

Length of hospital stay

The length of hospital stay depends on the general health of the individual. Usually the person does the surgery and can go home in less than 10 days, but if there are complications, if the person has to be reoperated, the length of hospital stay may be longer.