Dr. Katherine Poruk surgical oncologist at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) Atlanta discussed the pancreatic treatment paradigm with an emphasis on the role of surgery in an interview with Targeted Oncology for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
“The most important thing when it comes to pancreatic cancer is being able to find a way to screen for it and detect earlier. One of the main limitations and why there's such a poor survival with this disease is that most people present with very vague symptoms like weight loss, abdominal pain, and back pain. And so, it can go several months before someone is diagnosed. Because of that, a lot of people present with these large tumors that are unresectable or have metastasized to other organs. So, I think a very big need in this disease is identifying patients with early disease when they're still a surgical candidate.”