pancreas cancer : Overview of Pancreas Cancer

Cancer of the pancreas is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. This year approximately 32,000 Americans will die from cancer of the pancreas. The disease is not only common, it is also extremely difficult to treat. For these and other reasons, cancer of the pancreas has been called "the challenge of the twenty-first century." Recently Published Article Provides Comprehensive Overview of PC
Current Problems in Cancer: Pancreatic Cancer
July/August 2002 • Volume 26 • Number 4
Theresa Pluth Yeo, MSN, MPH, et al.

The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions has become the leading center for the treatment and study of pancreas cancer. We created this web page to:

Educate patients and family members with the hope of empowering them as they make complex medical decisions; and
Provide a virtual Web family of support and caring for those facing this disease.
This site details the research and clinical developments in the fight against pancreatic cancer (with the very latest described in the "What's New" page), and introduces you to the members of the multidisciplinary team of clinicians and scientists assembled here at Johns Hopkins to fight pancreas cancer. It also has a very active "chat room" for patients and family members to share ideas and support, and an "Ask our Social Worker" page where our Social Worker Maureen Coyle provides resource information and other social work related support. This web site also contains an extensively illustrated frequently asked questions section, written for the layperson. We also wish to inform the public of the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry based at Johns Hopkins, in the hopes of encouraging persons having more than one family member afflicted with pancreas cancer to register their families.
Cancer of the pancreas is a major clinical and research focus here at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. We hope you find this web site not only educational, but also a source of support. Numerous links are provided throughout the site, so please click on the highlighted headings for more detailed information.

Surgical Treatment
Surgical removal ("resection") of the cancer is currently the only chance for a cure for patients with cancer of the pancreas. Fortunately, great strides have been made in the surgical treatment of this disease. The surgical resection of most pancreas cancers is called a "pancreaticoduodenectomy" or "Whipple procedure." These operations are very complex, and unless performed by surgeons specially trained and experienced in this procedure, they can be associated with very high rates of operative morbidity and mortality. Close to 1,000 resections have been performed here at Hopkins since 1970, and the surgery is now safe and effective at our center. The five-year survival rate for patients who underwent a Whipple procedure for cancer of the pancreas here at Hopkins is now approaching 25% (40% for some patient subgroups), compared with a five-year survival rate of less than 3% overall for patients who do not receive treatment. Furthermore, because the procedure is safer when performed at Hopkins, patients treated here have fewer complications, and the overall hospital charges are significantly lower than when it is performed at less experienced institutions. The surgeons with a strong interest in treating cancers of the pancreas at Johns Hopkins include Drs. Kurtis Campbell, John Cameron, Frederick Eckhauser, Christopher Wolfgang, and Richard Schulick.

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