Pancreatic Cancer Treatment in Turkey

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies. However, many cases of the disease are treatable. The hospitals in Turkey demonstrate good results in the therapy of this type of cancer. You can go to this country in order to confirm the diagnosis, undergo surgical removal of the tumor and chemotherapy. Turkish hospitals perform minimally invasive surgeries to remove pancreatic tumors. They are safer, less traumatic, and as effective as traditional open surgery.

Surgical treatment of cancer

Not always, but in some cases, surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer can be performed. Radical surgery aims to completely cure the patient. If the cancer is considered unresectable, then only palliative surgical interventions are performed in order to alleviate the suffering of the patient and prevent complications.

When is radical cancer treatment possible?

The operation is preceded by a thorough diagnostics. The doctors examine the patient and assess whether radical treatment of pancreatic cancer can be performed. According to this criterion, a tumor can be:

• resectable – can be removed;
• borderline resectable – the question of the appropriateness of a radical surgery is considered individually, a course of chemotherapy prior to the operation may be required;
• unresectable – pancreatic cancer cannot be treated by means of radical surgery, because the possibility of cure is very low, and the operation is risky for the patient.

Resectability is assessed by a number of criteria. The radical treatment is possible in pancreatic cancer of the 1st, 2nd and even 3rd stage, but only if the tumor does not penetrate into large blood vessels: coeliac trunk or hepatic artery, superior mesenteric artery, in case of preserved patency of the superior mesenteric and portal veins.

The functionally unresectable pancreatic tumors are also possible. This means that cancer treatment would be possible as for the stage of its development, but it cannot be performed only because of the severe concomitant diseases in patient. The operation is too dangerous for the patient, with a high probability he will not survive.

Sometimes the doctor begins the operation to remove pancreatic cancer, but does not complete it. In borderline resectable tumors, it may already be revealed during the surgical intervention that the radical surgery is hopeless. In this case, the doctor only takes measures to prevent complications (for example, forms bypass for the outflow of bile).

What are the types of operations to remove cancer?

Gastropancreatoduodenal resection –- surgery is performed for patients whose cancer is localized in the caput pancreatis. Turkish Cancer Centers often perform this surgery laparoscopically. It is less traumatic for patients, because it provides surgical access through minimal incisions. The results of laparoscopic removal of pancreatic cancer are not worse than in open surgery, but only if the surgeon has sufficient experience in such interventions.

When performing the operation, the doctor resects the stomach, duodenum, removes the caput pancreatis. The lymph nodes will be excised as well.

Distal subtotal pancreatectomy is performed for patients with cancer localization in corpus or cauda pancreatis. During the operation, corpus, cauda pancreatis and spleen are removed. This operation can also be performed through laparoscopic access. In Turkish hospitals, the surgeons have sufficient experience in its performance.

Total pancreatectomy is the most radical cancer treatment. It involves the removal of the entire pancreas. It is not applied very often. Such an operation to treat cancer is used in patients with the lesion of all parts of the pancreas (corpus, cauda, caput pancreatis).

How is palliative cancer treatment performed?

If the examination showed that radical surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer is not possible, then the palliative surgery will be performed. It is required for the elimination or prevention of the development of obstructive jaundice. This complication of pancreatic cancer develops when the tumor begins to compress the bile ducts. To prevent jaundice, the doctors form bypass anastomoses or implant stents.

Another complication can be gastrointestinal obstruction, most often at the level of the duodenum. The palliative surgeries can also be performed to eliminate stenosis. The doctors mostly perform duodenal stent placement.

Conservative cancer treatment

The main method of conservative treatment is chemotherapy. Irradiation is less commonly used. Conservative therapy is prescribed both prior to the operation and after it.

Cancer treatment prior to surgery

Chemotherapy is used as the first-line treatment for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. It is prescribed in order to reduce tumor size. If chemotherapy is successful, then the tumor can be removed. Success is not only in reduction of the tumor size, but also in cessation of its growth.

Chemotherapy sometimes make the tumor resectable even in unresectable cancer. Therefore, it is recommended as the first-line treatment method.

Radiation therapy is less important. Nevertheless, the number of researches demonstrate that its inclusion in the induction treatment regimen for pancreatic cancer makes it more likely to achieve tumor resectability.

The duration of treatment depends on the results. Induction cancer therapy is carried out until the tumor becomes resectable. After that, it is removed surgically. If resectability is not achieved, then chemotherapy is continued for 6 months.

In some hospitals, the doctors continue to administer drugs in a maintenance regime in order to inhibit the progression of cancer. However, the decision to increase the duration of conservative treatment of the pancreatic tumor to more than 6 months in each case is made individually, based on efficacy and tolerability.

Cancer treatment after surgery

After surgery to remove pancreatic cancer, chemotherapy can also be used. It starts no later than 3 months after surgery, and optimally – during the first 6 weeks. The therapy lasts 6 months.

If for some reason the patient was unable to undergo treatment during the first 3 months after the operation, then further prescription of chemotherapy becomes inappropriate. The drugs can be used only in the case of cancer recurrence.

Some patients are not operated immediately, as chemotherapy is carried out before it. In this case, the strategy after the operation may be as follows:

• chemotherapy is not prescribed if the duration of the course was 6 months before surgery;
• if chemotherapy before surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer lasted less time, then the drugs are used after surgery for the time, which is required to achieve the total duration of therapy of 6 months.

Some patients have BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations in cancer cells. In this case, they are indicated targeted therapy.

Treatment of pancreatic cancer in Turkey

Medical tourism develops rapidly in Turkey. The country provides top-class medical services. Thousands of patients visit Turkish Cancer Centers annually in order to diagnose and cure cancer. The treatment in Turkey has the following benefits:

• An accurate diagnosis, which allows to determine the stage of cancer, determine the resectability of cancer and optimal tactics of surgical intervention.
• Extensive experience in pancreatic surgery in Turkish hospitals.
• Possibility of treatment of pancreatic cancer by means of laparoscopic surgery.
• Low risk of complications and relatively rapid recovery of the patient after minimally invasive surgery.
• Modern chemotherapy regimens.
• The very latest radiation methods allowing for the reduction of the course of radiation therapy and the dose of radiation for healthy tissues.

To undergo pancreatic cancer treatment in Turkey, please contact the Booking Health company. We have been successfully engaged in medical tourism for a long time. With our help, you can get acquainted with the main medical services of the Turkish hospitals in the field of oncology, clarify their current prices. When booking treatment in Turkey via Booking Health, you will receive a number of benefits:

• Selection of the best Turkish hospital specializing in cancer treatment, based on your diagnosis.
• Reduced medical costs.
• Reduced waiting time for treatment in Turkey.
• Preparation of the program and its monitoring.
• Communication with the hospital upon cancer treatment completion.
• Control of invoices and return of unspent funds.

The employees of the Booking Health company will book a hotel, airline tickets, arrange a transfer from the airport to the hospital and back.