Chemotherapy Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is often treated with chemotherapy because the disease is advanced before it is diagnosed. Early stages of this disease rarely have symptoms or it can cause symptoms that are misdiagnosed as a more common condition. The pancreas is behind the stomach and it is difficult to palpate for masses. Therefore when pancreatic cancer is finally diagnosed, it often has become advanced and may have metastasized throughout the body.

Treatment

• Treatment for pancreatic cancer is based upon the severity of the disease when it is diagnosed. Chemotherapy is frequently used but it may also be combined with surgery and radiation therapy. Surgery is indicated if your doctor can remove all of the cancer. Chemotherapy may be given before surgery to shrink the tumor or it may be given after surgery to destroy stray cells and prevent the cancer from returning. In this case, radiation treatments may also be given at the same time. If your cancer has spread to surrounding organs and cannot be removed through surgery, then chemotherapy may be given alone since surgery nor radiation will be able to treat cancer once it has metastasized.

Chemotherapy

• Gemcitabine is the chemotherapy drug of choice for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Gemcitabine is administered by an IV solution once weekly for three weeks at a time followed by a one week rest period in between. The dosage and length of treatment is determined by your physician.

  Another drug called 5-FU is used in some instances. Gemcitabine or 5-FU may be used alone or in combination with other drugs such as irinotecan, paclitaxel, docetaxel, oxaliplatin or capecitabine. Ongoing studies are underway to determine which combination of drugs is the most effective at treating various stages of pancreatic cancer. Presently, the decision is made on a case by case basis.

Side Effects

• Chemotherapy side effects are usually short term and include diarrhea, bruising easily, increased risk of infection, shortness of breath and fatigue. These symptoms are the result of low blood counts, which occur when chemotherapy affects your bone marrow. Sometimes there are more serious side effects, which are unique to the specific drug used. These include nerve damage and kidney damage.