Prevention and Management of Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading GI tract cancers. When it comes to pancreatic cancer, Center for Digestive Diseases provides comprehensive care and advanced solutions. If you diagnose it early, when there are no symptoms, then it is usually curable. The new modality, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), helps diagnose the early stages. We use EUS technology to examine the pancreas, biopsy the pancreatic lesion (cancer), guide pseudocyst drainage, medicinal injections and painkilling treatments, especially in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Common indications for EUS include:
- Chronic abdominal pain
- Pancreatic cancer staging
- Pancreatic cysts and pseudocysts, including aspiration and drainage
- Chronic pancreatitis, especially the early stages
- Gallbladder stones, sludge and polyps
- Gallbladder inflammation and cancer
- Bile ducts stones and sludge
- Rectal cancer staging
- Esophageal and stomach cancer staging
- Liver lesions
The “Gold Standard” for Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection
Once diagnosed, patients can begin treatment immediately thanks to EUS, which has both diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities. EUS is an outpatient procedure that minimizes patient anxiety and helps patients avoid hospitalization for exploratory surgery or other invasive procedures. It also helps patients avoid the repeated exposure to radiation of CT scans for patients who have a family history of pancreatic cancer. If we find a tumor while it is still small, we can often resect it before the cancer spreads, thus providing a cure. For patients undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, EUS can be used to guide injection of anti-tumor agents directly into the lesion.
If you have questions about early detection and prevention of pancreatic cancer, call 908-688-6565 or use our Request an Appointment form.
