Consultation for pancreatic cancer treatment at Mayo

Posted by wfu @wfu, Feb 14, 2020

A family member in Taiwan is recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She had an operation only to find out tumor is tangled with a vein/artery and doctor was not able to remove the tumor. I am looking for more advanced pancreatic cancer treatments here in the U.S. I'd like to know if I can have a consultation with a doctor to evaluate if my family could benefit from the treatments Mayo offers. I am not looking for specifics about the treatment, just to have an export's opinion on if my family could potentially have a better survival from the treatments at Mayo. I live in driving distance to Mayo. My family can provide pathology report and scan images. Thank you very much.

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Feb 14, 2020

Hi @wfu, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, an online community where people can share experiences and ask each other questions about any health issue.

I encourage your family member to contact Mayo Clinic International Services https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/international
Typically the oncology specialists review medical records to evaluate if they can provide care beyond what your family member is currently being offered before requiring them to travel to Mayo.

How disappointing it must have been for your family to discover the tumor inoperable. Did she have chemo before surgery?

wfu | @wfu | Feb 18, 2020

In reply to @colleenyoung "Hi @wfu, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, an online community where people can share experiences and..." + (show)

Colleen, Thank you for your reply. I have got the process started with the International Services. The doctor did not think the tumor was tangled with veins so she went to operation without chemo. Thanks again for your help.