Treatment Options

Pancreatic Cancer

Treating pancreatic cancer can be challenging. For most patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the main goal of treatment is to control symptoms. All treatments have benefits and risks. You and your doctor should carefully balance the potential benefits of any cancer treatment with its potential risks.
The focus of palliative care is to provide relief from pain and other distressing symptoms, and integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of care.regardless of the stage of the disease or need for other therapy. The ultimate goal of palliative care is to improve quality of life. Furthermore, this care offers a support system to help relatives and friends cope during the patient’s illness. While palliative therapies are clearly appropriate at the very advanced stages of the disease, they have also been found to improve quality of life when implemented early in cancer treatment. Palliative care offers many options to help control symptoms and other pain. These include both medical and surgical options that should be discussed with a physician.

Palliative intent surgery is sometimes recommended to alleviate distressing symptoms. In particular, tumours blocking the bile duct can cause uncomfortable symptoms such as jaundice, itching, nausea, and bowel problems. Common options for these procedures include:

Stent Implant – having a small plastic tube (called a stent) fitted inside the bile duct helps to open up the duct and help to improve symptoms.

Biliary Bypass – another method to relieve the blockage of the bile duct is to cut the duct above the blockage and rejoin it to the intestine. After the surgery, bile will bypass all or part of your bile duct and drain into the intestine.

Inpatient Hospice Care

The focus of palliative care is to provide relief from pain and other distressing symptoms, and integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of care.regardless of the stage of the disease or need for other therapy. The ultimate goal of palliative care is to improve quality of life. Furthermore, this care offers a support system to help relatives and friends cope during the patient’s illness. While palliative therapies are clearly appropriate at the very advanced stages of the disease, they have also been found to improve quality of life when implemented early in cancer treatment. Palliative care offers many options to help control symptoms and other pain. These include both medical and surgical options that should be discussed with a physician.

Palliative intent surgery is sometimes recommended to alleviate distressing symptoms. In particular, tumours blocking the bile duct can cause uncomfortable symptoms such as jaundice, itching, nausea, and bowel problems. Common options for these procedures include:

Stent Implant – having a small plastic tube (called a stent) fitted inside the bile duct helps to open up the duct and help to improve symptoms.

Biliary Bypass – another method to relieve the blockage of the bile duct is to cut the duct above the blockage and rejoin it to the intestine. After the surgery, bile will bypass all or part of your bile duct and drain into the intestine.

What Are The Options?