Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a very aggressive carcinoma with a poor prognosis. From all options currently available for pancreatic cancer patients, surgical resection offers the only potential for a cure. The high mortality rate of pancreatic cancer is related to the advanced stage of disease at the time of diagnosis. However, it is extraordinarily difficult to make an early diagnosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma based on clinical signs and symptoms only. Due to the nonspecific characteristics of the early symptoms and their insidious nature, pancreatic cancer is often mistaken for other diseases. Moreover, the pancreas is a relatively inaccessible organ for physical examination. This book reviews important literature about pancreatic cancer. Chapter One of this book describes the etiology and pathology of pancreatic cancer. Chapter Two presents up-to-date possibilities in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Chapter Three describes the surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer and postoperative surgical complications in detail. This chapter describes the standard and extended lymphadenectomy performed during radical pancreatic resection for pancreatic cancer. Chapter Four describes borderline pancreatic cancer and brings new knowledge concerning vascular reconstruction during radical surgical resection. Chapter Five discusses systemic therapy for patients with pancreatic cancer.