Pancreatic Cancer Surgery

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The formation of abnormal cells that grow and multiply in the pancreas of an individual is known as the pancreatic cancer. To cure the pancreatic cancer, the pancreatic cancer surgery is a necessary measure to be undergone.

The pancreas is located near a person's stomach. It is seen to have a structure which is fish like. The pancreas is measured to be 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. There are two types of glands present in the pancreas of every individual. These glands are the 'endocrine glands' and the 'exocrine glands'.

• Endocrine glands- These types of glands are present in a lesser quantity in the human body. The cluster of these glands is named as the 'islet cells'. They perform the function of preparing the necessary insulin in the human body.

• Exocrine glands- These glands are present in a much more quantity than the endocrine glands. They perform the function of making the pancreatic juices in the human body.

  Due some reasons, certain type of abnormal and unusual cells get formed in the human pancreas. They result into pancreatic cancer in the human body. As per the location of the cancerous cells, the pancreatic cancer has its two types. They are:

• Neuroendocrine tumor- When the cancerous cells get formed in the islet cells, the situation is known as the 'neuroendocrine tumor'.

• Adenocarcinoma- When the cancer cells get formed in the component of the exocrine gland in the patient's pancreas, it is called as the 'adenocarcinoma'.

Pancreatic cancer surgery: In most forms of the diseases, the option to get cured from the disease is to undergo surgery. The pancreatic cancer surgery is a similar method, where a professional surgeon operates upon the patient's cancerous parts and does the necessary measures to cure them.

Generally, there are two types of surgeries that are undergone by a pancreatic cancer patient. It all depends upon the state of cancer or the stage of cancer that which type of surgery should be carried out. Some of the pancreatic cancer surgery options are:

• Potential curative surgery: This type of surgery is usually carried out when the results of the imaging test show that the cancer cells can be removed completely or the cancer in the pancreas has reached the basic stage

• Palliative curative surgery: This type of surgery is usually carried out when the result of the imaging tests show that the cancer has spread over a wide area and removing it completely is difficult. It means that the cancer has reached further stages. This surgery type is carried out to prevent any kind of health related complications in near future.

Potential curative surgery: It is seen that most of the times curative surgeries have been done to treat the cancer that is present in the head of the pancreas. As these cancer cells are present near the patient's bile duct, they result into jaundice and can be removed at an early stage. Below mentioned are some of the options of surgeries that are undergone to treat the other parts when there is possibility of removing the cancer cells.

Whipple procedure (Pancreaticoduodenectomy): This is a very common type of pancreatic cancer surgery. It is done to kill the cancer in the exocrine pancreas. It removes the pancre3as head and the pancreas body (sometimes). Depending on how severe the cancer is, the lymph nodes, small intestine as well as the parts of the stomach are removed.

Total pancreatectomy: This surgery type is helpful for treating the cancer in the head of the pancreas or the body. It is used for removing the whole pancreas as well as the spleen. But in recent times, it is not used so frequently. Because it becomes difficult for the human body to perform certain functions when the pancreas is removed entirely.

Distal pancreatectomy: This surgery removes the pancreas tail or the tail of pancreas along with its other parts. If the patient is suffering from the neuroendocrine tumor, then this surgery proves to be helpful.

Palliative surgery: The palliative surgery type in the pancreatic cancer is usually advised to be undergone when the cancer cells have grown and spread to a large extent in the nearby organs of the pancreas. By undergoing such type of surgery, the cancer is removed but the signs of the pancreatic cancer can be reduced. It depends on the doctor and the patient whether to take the risk and undergo other surgery types that can help in killing the cancer cells even if they are spread to a long extent in the human body.

The pancreatic cancer surgery is thus a very important measure of treatment that is essential in removing the cancer cells and making the person better. If the patient approaches an experienced surgeon after undergoing the required imaging tests, the surgeon can guide him properly as to which pancreatic cancer surgery should be undergone by the patient.

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