Surgical approach to pancreatic cancer

Abstract:

Surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer is among the most demanding abdominal surgery procedures. Unfortunately, resection procedures are curable in only a small number of patients, and the five-year survival rate is still very low. Even for experts, the surgical approach in patients with pancreatic cancer carries a significant morbidity of 20-30%. The prognosis is particularly poor in resection of tumors with positive edges or in vascular invasion. Due to advances in endoscopic and percutaneous methods of biliary and duodenal decompression, there is an increasingly smaller need for palliative surgical procedures. The advances in adjuvant therapy in combination with surgical approaches might contribute to longer survival of patients with pancreatic cancer. 

Key words:
palliative treatment; pancreatic cancer; surgical procedure