THURSDAY, Jan. 11, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- Pancreatic cancer patients aged 65 and older who've survived at least five years after surgery have nearly the same chance of surviving another five years as other people in that age group, says a study by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
The researchers reviewed the records of 890 pancreatic cancer patients who had a Whipple procedure, which involves the removal of the gallbladder, common bile duct, part of the duodenum, and the head of the pancreas.
Of those patients, 201 (23 percent) lived five years after surgery. More than half of the 201 patients were 65 or older at the time of their surgery. Of the patients aged 65 and older who survived five years after their surgery, about 65 percent lived at least another five years, compared to about 87 percent for the same age group in the general population.
The findings, published in the current issue of Surgery, provide an important message for doctors and patients, said study leader Dr. Charles Yeo, chairman of surgery at Jefferson Medical College.
"A decade ago, many clinicians thought that there was little reason to operate on patients with pancreatic ductal cancer, that surgery does little to extend life and improve the quality of life," Yeo said in a prepared statement.
"Not too long ago, few lived for five years after diagnosis. Today, that's not true. There's been a paradigm shift in the way we treat and think about this disease," Yeo noted.
Pancreatic cancer kills about 30,000 people each year in the United States, and is the fifth-leading cause of cancer death in the country. About 15-20 percent of pancreatic cancer patients are alive one year after diagnosis, and an estimated 4 percent are alive five years after diagnosis.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about pancreatic cancer.
