Adenocarcinoma of pancreas
Chapter: 15
Most tumors are ductal cell carcinoma (>90%) with a very poor prognosis of 1% 5 year survival. It has perhaps the worst prognosis of any tumor, due largely to its anatomical location. Head portion tumors account for 2/3 of cases, and present with biliary obstruction, whereas body and tail portion tumors account for 1/3 of cases and present with insidious onset with late stage dissemination. Smoking and high fat diet appear to increase the incidence. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma does not respond well to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The therapy of choice is surgery (the Whipple procedure), which includes removal of the pancreas, duodenum, and a portion of the stomach. Operative mortality is quite high.
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