Treatment

Chemotherapy

• The treatment with chemotherapy involves the use of medicines (chemicals) to destroy and/ or control the abnormally dividing cells.

• The medicines are administered through various routes like oral or injectable into the blood through a vein or into muscle or a specific organ.
• Chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer is usually given along with radiation therapy (chemoradiotherapy) after surgery (adjuvant therapy) to prevent progression of cancer. It is also given to treat advanced stages of pancreatic cancer where surgery is not a viable option.
• Neoadjuvant therapy (therapy prior to surgery) is increasingly advocated to increase success rate of surgeries.¹²
• Studies have proved that chemotherapy improves survival time and the quality of life of patients with pancreatic cancer.
• There are several medicines that are used for chemotherapy and the treatment may use a single drug or a combination of drugs.
• The treatment has to be repeated after specific intervals and the sessions are called as 'cycles'. A single session of chemotherapy may extend from a few minutes to a few hours depending on the route of administration of the drug/ drugs. Finally the type of medicine, route of administration, time of each session, and frequency of cycles depend on the stage and type of cancer.
• Some common side effects of chemotherapy are nausea and vomiting, sores and ulcers in the mouth and throat, diarrhoea or constipation, hair loss, pain and aches in limbs and other parts of the body, susceptibility to infections, bleeding tendency, and anemia etc.
• The patient should discuss with the doctor about any abnormalities or discomfort experienced during or after therapy.