The treatment methods for pancreatic cancer at different stages are different

Before choosing a treatment method, patients with pancreatic cancer should clarify the stage of pancreatic cancer. The following are the treatment methods for each stage of pancreatic cancer:

Stage I and II pancreatic cancer

The first choice for patients with stage I pancreatic cancer is surgical resection. Depending on the location of the lesion, pancreaticoduodenectomy, pancreatic tail resection or total pancreatectomy can be used. The surgical resection rate of pancreatic head cancer is relatively high. Postoperative adjuvant therapy can consider 5-fluorouracil-based chemoradiotherapy; surgical treatment for stage II pancreatic cancer patients is the same as stage I. Those who cannot be surgically resected are treated according to stage III pancreatic cancer.

Stage III pancreatic cancer

Most patients with stage III pancreatic cancer cannot undergo surgery. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are helpful in controlling local lesions and relieving pain. For patients with good physical condition, gemcitabine alone or in combination with chemotherapy can also be used. Clinical trials are recommended. For patients with jaundice or gastrointestinal obstruction, bile duct drainage, stent placement, or gastrointestinal tract shunting and fistula treatment can be used to improve the quality of life.

Stage IV and metastatic pancreatic cancer

Patients with stage IV and metastatic pancreatic cancer are mainly treated with chemotherapy. The preferred chemotherapy regimen is gemcitabine monotherapy, conventional administration or fixed-rate administration, or combined with molecular targeted drug therapy. Second-line chemotherapy should give priority to clinical trial treatment. Those who cannot accept it can consider oxaliplatin combined with 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine chemotherapy; those with jaundice or gastrointestinal obstruction can be treated with bile duct drainage, stent placement or gastrointestinal tract short circuit, fistula, etc. For those with obvious abdominal pain, analgesia such as celiac nerve block can be given.