The pancreas is an organ located on the left side of the abdomen behind the lower part of the stomach. According to the Mayo Clinic, the pancreas secretes digestive enzymes and insulin, which is a hormone that governs the metabolism of blood glucose. Cancer that begins in the tissue of the pancreas is known to metastasize quickly to other parts of the body. Cancer in the pancreas ranks high as a cause of cancer death. There are three types of standard treatments for pancreatic cancer, and new treatments are being evaluated in clinical trials.
Surgery
According to the National Cancer Institute, there are three surgical approaches to the removal of a pancreatic tumor. The first is the Whipple procedure in which the surgeon takes out the right side of the pancreas, the gallbladder, part of the stomach, a portion of the small intestine and the bile duct. The portion of the patient's pancreas that remains after the operation can produce insulin and needed digestive enzymes. The second approach is called a total pancreatectomy, and in this procedure the entire pancreas is removed along with part of the stomach and small intestine, the bile duct, gallbladder, spleen and surrounding lymph nodes. The distal pancreatectomy is the third approach to removal of a pancreatic tumor. In this case, the surgeon excises the spleen, the middle of the pancreas, and the left side of it. If the cancer has metastasized to other areas of the body and the surgeon is unable to remove it, there are surgical procedures that can make the patient more comfortable by relieving problematic symptoms.
Chemotherapy
In chemotherapy treatments, doctors use drugs to kill cancer cells in the pancreas. According to Macmillan Cancer Support, patients who have undergone successful surgery to remove their pancreatic cancer may receive adjuvant chemotherapy after the surgery to lower the probability of a recurrence of the cancer. Patients whose cancer has metastasized to other organs may get chemotherapy to shrink the tumors and provide symptomatic relief. In most cases, a patient receives the drugs intravenously for a length of time that his doctor thinks is appropriate based on the patient's progress during the treatment. Chemotherapy drugs for cancer in the pancreas include gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, mitomycin, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine. Pancreatic cancer patients normally do not receive these drugs in combination. Instead, their course of treatment will involve only one drug at a time. In research trials, however, patients may get the biological drug erlotinib (Tarceva) along with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine. Common side effects may include reduced resistance to infection, sore mouth, diarrhea, nausea, hair loss, and dryness and flaking of the skin.
Radiation Therapy
According to the American Cancer Society, radiation therapy is one of the standard treatments for pancreatic cancer. This treatment uses high energy rays, such as X-rays, to destroy the cancer cells and shrink the tumors. Patients usually receive five treatments per week over the course of several weeks or months. In some patients, radiation treatment may be combined with surgery, but if the cancer has metastasized extensively and surgery is not an option then radiation and chemotherapy may relieve troublesome symptoms. Some of the side effects of radiation are skin changes that resemble sunburn, fatigue, weight loss, and nausea.
