But in recent years, Cameron and a handful of other surgeons have honed their skill at the Whipple procedure almost to perfection. At Hopkins, fewer than 2 percent of patients who undergo the procedure now die from its complications. One reason that the Whipple is so difficult is that the pancreas is about as deep inside the body as an organ can possibly be. The 10-inch long yellowish organ is wedged between the stomach and backbone. To get to it, surgeons painstakingly remove one organ system after another.
Surgeons tie off and sever the blood vessels leading to each organ system.
They then cut out the tumor, which can be as tiny as a pea or as large as a golf ball, and cut around the diseased area, ultimately removing about a third of the pancreas. They then reconstruct what remains of the pancreas and the gastrointestinal tract. The whole procedure takes about six hours. There are lots of opportunities for blood loss. Cameron, who has spent his entire career at Hopkins, has performed more than 500 Whipple operations.