It is also used post operatively as an adjutant to chemotherapy, but the decrease in mortality is not conclusive and gastrointestinal bleeding and distress are adverse effects. Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill the cancer cells and is taken orally or hypodermically. This method can kill the cells systematically outside the pancreas. Adverse effects include leukopenia and G.I. toxicity. All treatments, even with early detection, have yielded inclusive results regarding decreased mortality effectiveness.
Most patients usually die within one year of diagnosis even with treatment.
Pancreatic Carcinoma . Manual for Staging of Cancer, American Joint Committee on Cancer . JB Lippencott Co., 4th ed., 1992. Day B. Stacey, Ed. Progress In Career Research of Texas .