The pancreas is a small organ near the stomach that makes substances that help the body digest food and control blood sugar. If cancer cells in the pancreas grow out of control, they can spread to other parts of the body and cause symptoms. Stage 4 pancreatic cancer means that the cancer has spread from the pancreas to other organs and tissues in the body. Doctors are not able to cure this stage of cancer, but they can treat it to help improve quality of life and relieve symptoms.
How the disease is treated depends on the person’s age and general health, and how far the cancer has spread. Your outlook will also depend on the type of cancer and how abnormal its cells are, which affects how fast it grows.
Your doctor will decide what treatment is best for you. They may refer you to a specialist or order tests to check how well you are responding to treatment. You may have a biopsy, which involves inserting a needle into the tumor and taking out cells or tissue to be looked at under a microscope. If your tumor is resectable (can be removed), it hasn’t spread to nearby organs, tissues, or major blood vessels. A borderline resectable tumor is one that has some involvement of nearby organs or blood vessels, but it’s still possible to remove.
A recurrent pancreatic cancer is one that comes back in the pancreas or somewhere else in the body after previous treatment. The cancer can be the same size or it can grow larger. You might be given different medicines to treat the new cancer or take part in a clinical trial of a new pancreatic cancer medicine or other therapy.
If the cancer is in your bile duct or stomach, your doctor might perform a bypass operation to avoid a blockage. They might also give you pain medicines or cut the nerves that send signals to your brain to feel pain. If the cancer is blocking the common bile duct, your doctor might remove the gallbladder and part of the intestines.
In stage 4, the cancer has spread beyond the pancreas to other organs like your liver or the lining of your tummy (peritoneum). When this happens, doctors can’t remove it and they are not able to cure the cancer. They can treat the symptoms and try to extend your life.
A person in this stage of the disease often works with a palliative care team, which includes doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Palliative care helps people with serious illness feel better by helping them lower stress, manage pain and other problems, and cope with their condition. You might have chemotherapy or radiation treatment as part of this care. You might also take part in a clinical trial of symptom management treatments or other new treatments. This is a way of getting the best possible care while researchers study how to improve treatment and prolong survival.
