Some people with pancreatic cancer have surgery. Some also have radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or targeted therapy, or hormone therapy, or something called ablation and embolisation. If you have pancreatic cancer, you might need one of these, or a combination of them.
Your doctors will talk to you about what treatments they recommend and what your options are best for you.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker about which treatment you might have.
Surgery
Surgery is a procedure done to remove the cancer and help stop it from spreading to other parts of the body. If the cancer has spread, sometimes surgery may be used to relieve symptoms to help you feel better. This is known as palliative surgery and is considered by our mob as Sorry Business.
Surgery involves staying in hospital and having an anaesthetic. Surgery is different for everyone and so is recovery. You will need to recover in hospital for either a short or extended length of time until you are strong enough to go home.
Your doctor will yarn with you beforehand about what is going to happen. If you need to travel away from home for surgery, assistance is available for travel and accommodation for you and your family.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse, or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about surgery.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, uses X-rays to destroy cancer cells in one part of your body.
Most people who have radiotherapy have it 5 days a week for 4-6 weeks, and each session can take 15 minutes. But it might be different for you.
You can only have radiotherapy in cities and some big towns – see this list. If your doctor thinks radiotherapy would help, and you don’t live near a radiotherapy site, assistance is available for travel and accommodation for you and your family.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about radiotherapy.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy, or ‘chemo’ involves you taking strong drugs to kill or slow the growth of the cancer cells.
Many people have chemo in cycles – usually two days every three weeks, or one day every three weeks. Some people have chemotherapy tablets at home, but most need to go to a hospital or clinic. But you usually don’t need to stay in hospital for chemo.
Your doctor may recommend that you have chemo at the same time as radiotherapy treatments. In that case, the chemo is usually given as tablets or an infusion into your veins.
Many people have chemo in cycles – usually two days every three weeks, or one day every three weeks. Some people have chemotherapy tablets at home, but most need to go to a hospital or clinic. But you usually don’t need to stay in hospital for chemo.
Chemo can make people feel sick for a while, but there are things they can do to help. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Worker. Mob who have had chemo before say that spending time on Country, traditional healing, bush medicines, Men’s Business, Women’s Business and engaging in cultural practices can help.
Read more about chemotherapy and side effects.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is treatment with drugs that help your immune system attack the cancer cells.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Worker, and with other mob who have had the treatment.
Read more about immunotherapy.
Targeted therapies
Targeted therapies are newer drugs that try to stop the cancer growing. Targeted therapies try to attack cancer cells without harming healthy cells.
Most of these usually come in tablet form that you can take at home. If your doctor thinks they might help, here are some questions to ask.
Read more about targeted therapy.
Ablation and embolisation
Ablation means killing the cancer with heat or cold. You have a scan or ultrasound to see what is happening inside your body, and the doctor puts some very fine needles into your pancreas. They then apply the heat or cold.
Embolisation means injecting a chemical into an artery so blood stops flowing to the pancreas. This kills some of the cancer and can reduce the size of the tumour.
These techniques are usually used to relieve symptoms and help you feel better.
Read more about ablation and embolisation.