Surgery : Surgery may be used to remove all or part of the pancreas. If a cancer has not metastasized, it is possible to completely cure a patient by surgically removing the cancer from the body. There are three main surgical procedures that are used when it seems possible to remove all of the cancer:

• Whipple Procedure : The Pancreas head, and sometimes the entire organ, is removed along with a portion of the stomach, duodenum, lymph nodes, and other tissue. The procedure is complex and risky with complications such as leaking, infections, bleeding, and stomach problems.
• Distal Pancreatectomy : A Distal Pancreatectomy is where the bottom half of the pancreas is removed by a surgical procedure. The most frequent reason for performing a distal pancreatectomy is the presence of a tumor in the body or tail of the pancreas.
• Central Pancreatectomy : In a Central Pancreatectomy, a tumor in the neck or body of the pancreas is removed while preserving the healthy head and tail of the pancreas.
• Total Pancreatectomy : In a Total Pancreatectomy, the entire pancreas is removed. Similar to a Whipple procedure, a portion of the stomach, duodenum, gallbladder, and local lymph nodes are also removed. The spleen may be removed as well. This procedure is used when malignant cells have invaded most of the pancreatic tissue.

Laparoscopy : The minimally invasive surgical techniques of laparoscopy are normally used directly before a scheduled pancreatic resection to determine if a more invasive operation is the best course of action. Since metastases can sometimes be missed on CT, MRI or other imaging studies, laparoscopy is a reliable way to check for metastasis to other organs. If metastases are found and the surgeon decides an operation is not the best course of action, then the patient will have a shorter recovery time compared to that of a major surgery and will be in better shape to receive alternate forms of treatment.

Chemotherapy : Chemotherapy uses drugs to help kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be injected into a vein or taken orally. Chemotherapy can also be combined with radiation therapy (chemoradiation). Chemoradiation is typically used to treat cancer that has spread beyond the pancreas, but only to nearby organs and not to distant regions of the body. This combination may also be used after surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence of pancreatic cancer.

Radiation therapy : It destroys cancer by focusing high-energy rays on the cancer cells. This causes damage to the molecules that make up the cancer cells and leads them to commit suicide. Unlike chemotherapy which is a systemic treatment, radiation therapy is a local treatment meant to destroy only tumor cells. During the treatment, a beam of radiation is directed through the abdomen to the cancerous area. The radiation is similar to that used for diagnostic X-rays, only in a higher dose.