Study shows promising results for new pancreatic cancer treatment

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Pancreatic cancer This is a stubborn and difficult to treat cancer. In fact, it has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. Now researchers have discovered new treatment protocol it may help some people with this often fatal cancer survive longer.

People with pancreatic cancer often face a grim outlook. Only about 13% will be alive in five years.

Surgery is the key to defeating this deadly cancer. Sometimes patients receive chemotherapy after surgery. Now a new study from Yale University looked at chemotherapy before and after surgery.

Philip Kovoor, MD, an oncologist at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, says, “Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is what we call people who need chemotherapy before surgery.”

Doctors hoped this extended chemotherapy plan would help destroy any stray cancer cells in pancreatic cancer patients.

Dr. Kovoor says, “This helps us clear the margins and remove all the cancer, and also helps us fight any cancer seeds that may have spread.”

In the studyThe researchers followed 46 participants. In 67% of them the disease did not worsen. And 59% lived at least two years after completing chemotherapy and surgery. These numbers may not seem impressive, but at the start of the study, 90% of patients with operable pancreatic cancer experienced recurrence and eventually died.

Dr. Kovur studies and treats all forms of cancer and was not involved in this study, but he shares what all cancer doctors strive for: “Our goal, God willing, is to eradicate all signs of cancer.”

This study is another step towards helping people with pancreatic cancer live longer and better.

Although these results are encouraging, only about 15–20% of people with pancreatic cancer are eligible for surgery. In most patients, cancer is not discovered until it has spread throughout the body.

Contributors to this news report include: Julie Marks, producer; Roque Correa, editor.