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Pancreatic cancer is not the easiest cancer to cure. Doctors usually find cancer of the pancreas after it has progressed. At Dignity Health Southern California hospitals, our treatment options focus on slowing or controlling the cancer’s growth while caring for your symptoms.
Use our online Find a Doctor tool to receive personalized treatment for pancreatic cancer in Southern California. We can also offer care for signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer, as well as various stages.
Treatment depends on the stage of the cancer and whether it’s removable with surgery. Your doctor may use surgery, drug therapy, or a combination of both to control the cancer and improve how you feel.
Surgery can remove the cancer if imaging exams indicate it’s possible. If not, surgery can prevent complications from the disease and ease symptoms.
Chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer is useful for shrinking tumors before surgery and for killing cancer cells that remain after an operation. Doctors sometimes combine chemotherapy with radiation treatment to improve the chances of shrinking or eliminating the cancer. However, side effects may be more severe when doctors combine both drug therapies.
Targeted therapy applies drugs to target markers responsible for the progression of the cancer cells. This type of therapy is a common treatment option when surgery or chemotherapy is not. The side effects are also less severe.
To increase the chance of removing all the cancer during surgery, doctors will use radiation therapy to shrink the tumor. Radiation therapy is also useful for killing remaining cancer cells.
There are experimental treatments for people with pancreatic cancer. Your doctor at a Dignity Health Southern California hospital can help you enroll in a clinical trial.
Deciding on a treatment for pancreatic cancer depends on your goal. The goal may be to remove the cancer, or your doctor may simply focus on improving your wellbeing with palliative care. You may also consider the side effects and benefits to each type of treatment. During your appointment, you will have the opportunity to share all of your concerns, including the prognosis.
You can trust your comprehensive care to our experienced oncology specialists at a Dignity Health Southern California hospital, located in Long Beach, Northridge, Downtown LA, Glendale, and San Bernardino.
Dignity Health provides specialty care for the treatment of pancreatic cancer in Southern California.
