The Co-Chairman talks about the treatment options for pancreatic cancer.

Irving, Texas- Pancreatic cancer results when cells within the pancreas start mutating. The mutations can lead to an uncontrollable cell growth, and accumulate to become a tumor. Pancreatic cancer doctors recommend early diagnosis and treatment to improve the survivability of the patient. Cancer care centers are the ideal for treatment because they provide personalized treatment to pancreatic cancer patients in a caring environment.

“Treatment of pancreatic cancer largely depends on the age of the person and the tumor location,” says the Co-Chairman. “To manage this disease, chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy may be used.”

The main treatment options for pancreatic cancer are:

• Surgery – It can be recommended if the pancreatic tumor is accessible during the procedure which isn’t always the case. Also, surgery options could mean a Whipple procedure in which the pancreas head is removed alongside part of the gallbladder and stomach. Also, a part of the bile duct or small intestine may be removed.

• Chemotherapy – It’s used to treat cancer cells that can’t be detected with other methods. It uses drugs to stop the growth of more cancer cells. It can be used alone or combined with surgery or other cancer therapies.

• Radiation therapy – This can be either internal or external radiation. Internal radiation entails injecting radiation into one’s body through catheters, needles and other options. External radiation, on the other hand, directs radiation beams towards the cancer area from outside one’s body.

“After a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, treatment should start immediately,” says the Co-Chairman. “The treatment option to be adopted will depend on different factors, such as the stage of the disease, the patient’s overall health, and age.

About The Sandler-Kenner Foundation

The Sandler-Kenner Foundation, established in 2007 as the Las Colinas Cancer Center Foundation, was renamed in early 2011 in the memory of Michael Sandler and Peter Kenner, both of whom passed away from pancreatic cancer, a lethal disease that is difficult to diagnose until it has reached an advanced stage.