About 30 to 50 percent of patients who are eligible for surgery are told they are ineligible. The Kosten Foundation strongly recommends you see a surgeon who performs a high volume of pancreatic surgeries (more than 15 per year) to determine eligibility.

Types of Pancreatic Cancer Surgery:

Every pancreatic tumor is different. The Kosten Foundation strongly recommends molecular profiling of your tumor to help determine the best treatment options.

Types of available therapy may include chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation therapy or others. Patients may also consider complementary and alternative medicine, which refers to therapies that extend outside of the normal practices of conventional medicine..

Seeing pancreatic cancer specialists, physicians who diagnose and treat a high volume of pancreatic cancer patients, improves outcomes. The Kosten Foundation strongly recommends you consult with pancreatic cancer specialists who have experience diagnosing and treating the disease.

Mucinous cystadenoma is a type of cystic neoplasm. This type of tumor is usually benign when small but can grow and degenerate into a frank cancer. Most patients with these tumors are in their 5th and 6th decade and it is more common in women. Most of these tumors occur in the body and tail of the pancreas. As with serous cystadenomas they can usually be definitely diagnosed with modern diagnostic testing. When small (<3cm) and asymptomatic, most experts feel these lesions can be safely observed provided there is close surveillance with CT scans.

If the lesion is causing symptoms or obstructing the pancreatic duct they should be surgically excised. Even if a cystadenocarcinoma is found, the prognosis is quite good if the tumor can be surgically removed.

Cystic neoplasms of the pancreas represent about 10% of all cysts of the pancreas and ~1% of all pancreatic neoplasms. Much has been learned about the natural history and management of these tumors in the past decade. We are finding more of these lesions than in years past since so many patients receive ultrasounds or CT scans for other reasons and these tumors are found incidentally. Cystic neoplasms are subdivided into serous, mucinous and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms. These lesions are described separately on this website but a few generalities pertain to all. The most important aspect of these lesions is to recognize them. They must be differentiated from benign pancreatic cysts as the treatment is distinctly different. Differentiation of benign cysts from cystic neoplasms of the pancreas can usually be made by a good history and physical exam by a physician familiar with these disorders.

If a cystic neoplasm is suspected and the patient is symptomatic (abdominal pain), surgical removal is recommended. Most authorities feel that small lesions (<3cm) that do not cause abdominal pain or obstruction of the main pancreatic duct may be safely observed with close surveillance. In contradistinction, lesions larger than 3cm, those that cause symptoms or those that obstruct the main pancreatic duct should be removed not only to relieve symptoms but also because the incidence of cancer is higher.

Our knowledge and treatment of these disorders is rapidly changing and recommendations for treatment may change in the future. Overall, the prognosis for these lesions, even if cancer is present, is markedly better than that for routine pancreatic adenocarcinoma if the these tumors can be surgically removed.