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Surgical Innovations and Advances

Surgery is the standard treatment for pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately 1/3 of patients are inoperable due to vascular invasion. Here at The Pancreas Center, neoadjuvant chemotherapy has become a valued tool in treating inoperable patients, thereby increasing the surgical option for the 35% of patients with locally inoperable disease.

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
Patients with advanced pancreatic cancer deemed to be surgically unresectable are often able to undergo a regimen of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy that reduces their disease to operable levels.

Vascular Resection
Patients with tumors encroaching on and encasing vessels are operated on at our institution with a high success rate. Often this is combined with neoadjuvant therapy.

Laparoscopic Distal Pancreatectomy
Patients can safely undergo distal pancreatectomies laparoscopically. At our institution, the majority of these laparoscopic pancreatectomies are for neuroendocrine tumore and cysts. Our laparoscopic distal pancreas patients tend to experience shorter hospital stays, less blood loss, and lower leak and complication rates.

Central Pancreatectomy
Central pancreatectomies are performed at The Pancreas Center. These operations can eradicate a neoplasm in the body or neck of the pancreas without removing the healthy pancreatic tail; enabling the patient to have a highly functioning pancreatic head and tail with exocrine and endocrine functions intact.