It is a ray of light amidst the darkness that is pancreatic cancer. For anyone going through Pancreatic Cancer, the physical and emotional burden of the disease can be too much to handle. Often, the lack of information that is both accurate and easy to understand can weigh down an already troubled person.

1. What is the Whipple Procedure
Whipple procedure is more than just an alternative for the mouthful word
pancreaticoduodenoctomy. It is more than a major surgical procedure to remove a portion of the
pancreas, bile duct, gallbladder, duodenum and stomach. It is a ray of light amidst the darkness that
is pancreatic cancer. For anyone going through Pancreatic Cancer, the physical and emotional burden
of the disease can be too much to handle. Often, the lack of information that is both accurate and
easy to understand can weigh down an already troubled person.
Our website helps patients, their families and loved ones to understand:
Whipple Procedure
survival rate
complications
possible prognosis
THE REALITY THAT IS PANCREATIC CANCER
As much as anyone would wish, it is just a nightmare and waking up fixes everything, Pancreatic
Cancer is a reality.
The pancreas is an organ in the human body that plays parts in both digestive and endocrine system.
It has Islets of Langerhans, which produce hormones necessary for other body functions and acinar
cells, which produce enzymes for the digestion of food and absorption of nutrients. The pancreas and
its parts lie in close proximity with other organs inside the abdominal cavity. The head of the
pancreas rests on the arc of the duodenum, the body is behind the stomach and the tail is in contact
with the spleen. Most blood vessels run across, behind or along the pancreas. The dual role the
pancreas plays and the approximation of its parts to other organs make pancreatic diseases
complicated, difficult to manage and sometimes, fatal.
Pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor, which originates from abnormal growth pattern and
proliferation of cells forming the pancreas. The growth of cells exceeds and violates the boundaries
of the normal tissue around it. If this is seen in the exocrine component of the pancreas, it is known
as adenocarcinoma and it accounts for 95% of cases. The remaining 5% is from the islet cells.

2. Pancreatic cancer often has poor prognosis: rates for all stages of pancreatic cancer combined are
25% 1-year survival and 6% 5-year survival. The 5-year survival rate for localized disease is 20% while
the average survival for locally advanced and metastatic disease is about 6-10 months.

3. WHO NEEDS A WHIPPLE PROCEDURE
Whipple procedure is a curative surgical treatment for exocrine pancreas cancers involving the head
of the pancreas. It is only performed if the neoplasm is localized, did not invade neighboring
structures and metastasize. Sadly, less than 20% of cases are localized upon diagnosis. Whipple
procedure can only be performed in this minority.
WHAT HAPPENS IN A WHIPPLE PROCEDURE
The surgery involves removal of the site of the neoplasm, the head of the pancreas, and the
surrounding organs: the curve of the duodenum, distal half of the stomach, gall bladder, cystic duct,
common bile duct and regional lymph nodes. Reconstruction is done to preserve the continuity of
the digestive tract and it involves creation of a bypass for food to pass from stomach to the jejunum
and the attachment of the hepatic duct to the jejunum to allow passage of digestive juices from the
pancreas and bile from the liver into the digestive tract.
Ton continue reading, please visit http://www.whipple-procedure.org/