Thanks to a recently-popularized operation called the Whipple procedure, and advances in chemotherapy and radiation therapy, many pancreatic cancer patients add years to their lives. Dr. Charles Yeo is a Johns Hopkins surgeon. With chemotherapy and radiation therapy given after a Whipple operation, patients live longer than if they don't receive such therapy. It's not a home run, we're not curing cancer here. We're improving the overall outcome.
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.