After two surgeries, Monsita Botwick wasn’t sure she could go on with more chemotherapy. Working with a therapist, she found that she was able to go on for her family and friends. Monsita is very grateful for all the time she has now, with her children, her grandchildren, and her friends. Help me find a pancreatic cancer expert near me. Learn more How can I support my loved one during treatment? Find out more Tags chemotherapy long-term survivor Whipple surgery Follow Us @letswinpc facebook.com/letswinpc @letswinpc LetsWinPancreaticCancer letswinpc.medium.com Recent Stories ..read more

Ashley Coker Upper abdominal and back pains led to diagnosis Initially turned down for surgery because of vein involvement Chemotherapy and radiation Total pancreatectomy Finding out that I had pancreatic cancer was a major blow, but being turned down for surgery due to vein involvement was unacceptable. That was two years ago and a lot has happened since then. Let me start at the beginning. My Diagnosis In August 2022, I was experiencing upper abdominal pain that radiated into my back. My doctors ordered many tests including an ultrasound, CT, MRI, EUS, and PET scan. Finally a tumor was ..read more

Polorotyy, Wikimedia Commons Can a new application of ultrasound make standard chemotherapy more effective in advanced pancreatic cancer patients? Researchers are continually looking for ways to make pancreatic tumors more sensitive to chemotherapy. This clinical trial is testing the use of a technique called sonoporation, or contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), to make the cell membrane more permeable to drugs.   What Is Sonoporation? Ultrasound uses high-energy sound waves for imaging the body. Sonoporation combines ultrasound with a microbubble contrast agent resulting in enhanced di ..read more

One of the holy grails of pancreatic cancer research is finding ways to detect the disease before it begins its lethal spread. As artificial intelligence (AI) enters the healthcare space, one area under serious exploration is its role in early detection of diseases such as pancreatic cancer. An ambitious Johns Hopkins study called the Felix Project (Felix) has been examining the role of AI in earlier detection, to help clinicians and researchers corral this disease. Felix is a multiyear deep learning research study which began in 2016 and is inspired by the Harry Potter series and the whimsi ..read more

Greg Jacobson Pain leads to pancreatic and duodenal cancer diagnosis Whipple procedure Second opinion before chemo includes genetic testing Lynch syndrome finding changes chemo protocol Other cancers related to Lynch In the spring of 2015 I started having pain in my upper left abdominal region and suffered from constant nausea. The pain eventually spread throughout my back and to the area where my liver resides. My doctor ordered blood tests, a CT scan, a PET scan, an endoscopy, and even a colonoscopy. It turned out that I had stage III pancreatic and duodenal cancer. Recovery: A Constant ..read more

When it comes to picking the right surgeon for a complex surgery like the Whipple procedure (also known as pancreaticoduodenectomy), it quite literally can be a life-or-death choice. So where do you even begin? Ideally, you would want someone experienced to undertake the complex six-hour surgery. The American Cancer Society recommends finding surgeons and hospitals that perform at least 20 Whipples each year, and the more experienced the surgeon the better off you may be. So, how do you do this? Interviewing Your Surgeon Once you are directed to a surgeon, you probably want to interview them ..read more

GI oncologists are feeling quite optimistic about recently released data comparing two different treatments for patients with a specific type of neuroendocrine tumor. While clinical trials of new drugs or drug combinations can sometimes show great improvements for patients, it’s rare for a trial to knock it out of the park. But that is what trial results show for the activity of a radiopharmaceutical therapy called Lutathera (lutetium Lu 177 dotatate) in patients newly diagnosed with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Data from the phase III NETTER-2 trial, release ..read more

Maryanne Winchester Sudden sharp pains in lower right abdomen led to diagnosis FOLFIRINOX, FOLFIRI, Gemzar for chemo Y90, pancreatectomy, two liver resections Life Is Good! When I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic adenocarcinoma in November 2021, I was stunned and shocked. My symptoms struck me one day, then nothing. It had to be a testy appendix! From a full life to a life with no hope. Stage IV cancer. Hopeless. Then I changed my thinking. Stage IV is just a label. It does not mean immediate death. I would be living proof of that. A 12 percent survival rate is grim, until you think ..read more

Doron Broman was only 44 when he was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. He wanted to at least see his high school-age daughter through college, so he searched for the best doctor he could find. With molecular profiling Doron’s doctor found a BRCA2 mutation, which opened up other lines of treatment. Read Doron’s story in “Molecular Sequencing Leads to Customized Treatment.” Why is a family medical history important? Learn more What are the risk factors for pancreatic cancer? Learn more Tags BRCA-2 long-term survivor molecular profiling Follow Us @letswinpc facebook.com/le ..read more

Current chemotherapy regimens are often limited in the amount of drugs they can safely deliver to patients without becoming toxic or causing too many adverse side effects. A Korean company is hoping to expand the efficacy of existing cancer drugs like paclitaxel by packaging them in nanoparticles programmed to deliver the medication directly into pancreatic tumor cells. Onselex has developed what it calls an “intelligent cancer drug” able to home in on tumors and deeply penetrate tissues for extremely precise drug delivery. The company’s lead candidate, ONX-1006, encapsulates the drug paclit ..read more