Pancreatic cancer trial: Early surgery boosts success rates

[Northerner]

Speeding up access to surgery for pancreatic cancer patients diagnosed early enough increased success rates by a third, a pilot scheme has shown.

The Birmingham team said it had saved the NHS £3,200 per patient and could help hundreds of patients UK-wide.

The trial involved cutting average time to surgery for 32 patients from two months to just over two weeks - 31 had their tumours removed successfully.

But it will be two years before doctors know if operating earlier extends life.

About 9,600 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK each year, and fewer than 7% live beyond five years. Very little progress has been made in treating the disease since the early 1970s.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40777844

Seems logical that it would be better for the patients.

 

[mikeyB]

It's catching it early that's the main problem. A cancer in the tail of the pancreas can be well advanced by the time it's discovered, and even in the head of the pancreas the same can apply. It's one of the silent cancers, like ovarian. So no matter how quick you get folk to surgery, as often as not it's just a finger in the dyke.

 

[pottersusan]

Ha! only just scrolled down far enough for this, after posting it myself.

As @mikeyB says, it's diagnosis that is the problem. I am an incredibly lucky person🙂🙂🙂

 

[mikeyB]

Aye, Susan. The luck was the cancer you had as much as the time it was found. And that's 5kg of neurofibroma. Any other large pancreatic tumour, and you'd be communicating with us via a medium.