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Surgery before chemo- potentially localized
My 81 year old mom had a recent CT scan that incidentally found a 1.5x2.5 tumor in her pancreas tail. The report stated "de Novo pancreatic adenocarcinoma."
We took her to Memorial Sloan Kettering and it's been about a week since she got this CT and they recommended skipping biopsy and going straight to surgery bc they think it's local and resectable and no vessel involvement.
The surgery is scheduled next week so it's very soon, less than 2 weeks since she got the CT result.
I'm a little concerned she's not doing chemo first but the team feels this is the best approach.
Curious what people's thoughts or experiences are about adjuvant vs neoadjuvant treatment for stage 2 diagnoses?
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I had surgery prior to chemo and radiation as an attempt to biopsy the tumor was unsuccessful. My tumor was also on the tail of my pancreas. The surgeon felt confident that he could successfully remove the tumor utilizing laparoscopic/robotic surgical technique to perform a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy. The surgery (May 2023 at MGH Boston) was successful and he was able to get clean margins. However, I was diagnosed with stage 3 adenocarcinoma with small and large vessel involvement and 6 out of 24 positive lymph nodes. Recovery from the surgery was relatively easy. I was 69 at the time. I did 6 months of chemo followed by 6 weeks of chemo/radiation. I am now 3 1/2 years cancer free. I'm assuming that MSK will be utilizing laparscopic/robotic surgery? Good luck to your Mom.