Pancreatic carcinoma – diagnosis and modern multimodal treatment

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive tumors and is among the top ten most common malignan-cies in the world. This is a disease of older adults, and men get it more often. Pancreatic carcinomas risk factors are obesity and type II diabetes, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Symptoms of the disease in-clude obstructive jaundice, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, and back pain. The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer involves computed tomography of the thorax, abdomen and pelvis or magnetic resonance imaging of the abdomen and pelvis, and endoscopic ultrasound with biopsy. The most common histological type of pancreatic cancer is ductal adenocarcinoma. The TNM classification is used to determine the stage of the disease. Pancreatic cancer treatment is complex, multidisciplinary, and multimodal, and involves the use of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, alone or in different combinations. Surgery is the main treatment modality for these tumors, especially in localized stages. Chemotherapy is applied in all forms in the treatment of pancreatic cancer as neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and systemic. Immunotherapy, as the newest type of treatment, is used in a limited way in the metastatic phase of pancreatic cancer. The role of radiotherapy in the treatment of pancreatic cancer is still debated, and it is most often applied in a neoadjuvant and palliative approach. Palliative therapy and care are an indispensable part of the treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer. © 2024, Serbia Medical Society. All rights reserved.