Pancreas Surgery
Two general types of surgery can be used for pancreatic cancer:
- Potentially curative surgery is used when the results of exams and tests suggest that it’s possible to remove (resect) all cancer.
- Palliative surgery may be done if tests show that the cancer is too widespread to be removed completely. This surgery is done to relieve symptoms or to prevent certain complications like a blocked bile duct or intestine, but the goal is not to cure cancer.
Staging laparoscopy
To determine which type of surgery might be best, it’s important to know the stage (extent) of cancer. But it can be hard to stage pancreatic cancer accurately just using imaging tests. Sometimes laparoscopy is done first to help determine the extent of cancer and if it can be resected.
For this procedure, the surgeon makes a few small incisions (cuts) in the abdomen (belly) and inserts long, thin instruments. One of these has a small video camera on the end so the surgeon can see inside the abdomen and look at the pancreas and other organs. Biopsy samples of tumors and other abnormal areas can show how far cancer has spread.