Treatments for pancreatic cancer

If you have pancreatic cancer, your healthcare team will create a treatment plan just for you. It will be based on your health and specific information about the cancer. When deciding which treatments to offer for pancreatic cancer, your healthcare team will consider the size and location of the tumour and your overall health.

The stage of the cancer, including if the tumour is resectable, borderline resectable or unresectable (locally advanced or metastatic), determines which treatments can be offered.

Resectable pancreatic tumours can be completely removed with surgery. Stage 1 or 2 tumours are often resectable. They are treated with surgery to remove part, or all, of the pancreas. Chemotherapy may be given after surgery (called adjuvant chemotherapy). If cancer cells are found in the tissue removed along with the tumour during surgery (called positive surgical margins), radiation therapy or chemoradiation may be given.

Borderline resectable pancreatic tumours are treated in a clinical trial setting, if possible. They may be treated before surgery with chemotherapy and chemoradiation (called neoadjuvant therapy).

Locally advanced pancreatic tumours (stage 3) are treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or chemoradiation. In some cases, surgery will be used to relieve symptoms of advanced cancer (called palliative surgery), but it isn’t used to try to remove the entire tumour.

Metastatic pancreatic tumours (stage 4) are treated with chemotherapy, with or without targeted therapy. Surgery, radiation therapy or both may be offered to relieve symptoms and control pain (called palliative therapy).