But, for most people, it takes as long as 2 to 6 months to fully get back to a normal quality of life. Ultimately, patients should be able to do anything after surgery that they could do before. Some patients get back to running marathons after a Whipple procedure.
But it really depends on the individual. Some patients might be older and have an underlying disease that makes them a little sicker to start with. They also might be receiving other types of treatment — such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy — before or after the operation.
All of these factors can impact recovery time. If a Whipple procedure is done on the right patient for the right reason at the right time by the right surgeon, patients can expect a full return to the quality of life they had before cancer. Patients might need to eat smaller meals more frequently throughout the day, instead of three larger meals a day. So, I look at that more as a lifestyle change, not necessarily a problem. Some patients might need enzyme replacements and antacids. So, their medications may change.
There could be long-term nutritional deficiencies as well. Fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E and K might not be absorbed as efficiently. The duodenum is involved with absorbing minerals like calcium, too. When you take that out, it can cause a calcium deficiency over time. The pancreas helps regulate glucose, so when you take out a piece of that, diabetes can sometimes occur. If a doctor recommends a Whipple procedure, what questions should patients ask before deciding whether to move forward?
There are several questions patients should ask to determine whether a Whipple procedure is the best option for them — and whether this is the best team to perform that surgery. These are the questions I recommend asking:. Why is it important to get your Whipple procedure done at a place like MD Anderson? For one thing, at a high-volume cancer center like MD Anderson , we do more than of these procedures a year, and most of our patients go on to make a full recovery.
We have an entire team of specialists to help patients manage any long-term issues that may occur after a Whipple procedure. Nutritional deficiencies can occur after a Whipple procedure without proper management, so patients will need a dietitian. If complications occur, patients might need interventional gastrointestinal services.
Is that right? Scaife: Dr. Whipple first described the operation in the s. And as first described, it was a two-day operation where the pancreas was taken apart, and the next day, everything was put back together. Miller: My understanding is that Whipple surgery is a curative surgery for some patients with pancreatic cancer. So again, Whipples are done for all types of neoplasms.
And again, neoplasms can be masses, tumors, cysts in the pancreas. And so a Whipple for a non-cancerous neoplasm is obviously curative. And a Whipple for pancreas cancer can also be curative. Miller: If one has a pancreas cancer and they're going to undergo Whipple, the purpose of that would be to cure the cancer, I think, obviously, right? Scaife: Yeah. And because of the location of the head of the pancreas intimately involved with the bile duct and the first part of the small intestine, we have to rebuild all of those.
So we rebuild the pancreas. We rebuild the first part of the small intestine. And we rebuild the bile duct. But in the end, the patients can eat normally. They can eat any food they like. And they do quite well after recovering from the operation. Miller: Is there anything that you tell your patients in that preoperative period when you first meet them before they undergo the surgery?
Scaife: We frequently tell patients that the surgery, again, takes six to eight hours. They'll be in the hospital for approximately seven days. For a month after a big surgery like this, their appetite, their energy, and their strength will all be much lower than they normally expect.
And it usually recovers four to six weeks after surgery. Anything someone has before surgery gets a little bit worse and harder to manage after surgery. So diabetes, high blood pressure are all a little bit harder to manage after a big operation like this. But it recovers about a week or two after surgery and goes back to their baseline. Miller: So that's interesting. Do you use a team approach with another physician such as an internist to help manage the patient after the surgery if they have diabetes or other complications?
Scaife: Generally we manage it on our own. Because they're short-lived, we're able to manage it on our own. Miller: Do they ever experience diarrhea following pancreatic surgery? Is that something that they need to worry about? Scaife: Yeah, chronic diarrhea after a Whipple operation is extremely uncommon, but not zero. Some doctors offer robotic or laparoscopic surgery. These options may reduce blood loss and lead to fewer complications, but they can take longer.
During the Whipple procedure, a surgeon can remove the cancerous parts of the pancreas while preserving digestive function and insulin production. They also maintain that receiving radiation and chemotherapy alongside the procedure can almost double its effectiveness. However, the survival rate in Pancreatica is from While the survival rate remains low , pancreatic cancer is usually aggressive with a poor outlook.
Removing part or all of the pancreas is the only treatment for pancreatic adenocarcinoma and an effective way to prevent the spread of pancreatic cancer to other organs. The Whipple procedure is complicated, and it carries a risk of death, especially if an inexperienced surgeon carries out the procedure or it takes place in a hospital that rarely performs this surgery.
The American Cancer Society recommend that candidates for a Whipple procedure visit an experienced surgeon who carries out at least 15—20 Whipple procedures every year. The hospital should also be a facility in which they regularly take place.
The overwhelming majority of people survive the operation and live longer than they otherwise would have done.
In the days immediately after the procedure, it is common to experience delayed gastric emptying , which is when the stomach takes longer than usual to empty its contents. This complication usually resolves in a week or two, but some people may need a feeding tube for a few weeks. Immediately after surgery, some people develop infections or bleed excessively.
These symptoms can become life threatening without treatment. With prompt intervention, however, they are usually treatable. Here, learn more about advanced pancreatic cancer. Removing part of the pancreas reduces its production of enzymes, meaning that digestion becomes more difficult. As a result, people may need to adjust their diets on both a short and long term basis following surgery. A person can usually return to consuming food by mouth after the care team removes the feeding tubes.
They should begin by drinking clear liquids before gradually advancing to solid foods. During recovery, people should eat between six and eight small meals and snacks per day, rather than three large meals. They should also take care to avoid fried or greasy foods. Raw fruits and vegetables might also be more difficult to tolerate, so people should limit their consumption of these foods at first and increase their intake as their pancreas readjusts.
On a longer term basis, people should continue to moderate their intake of fried and greasy foods and to consume fats from healthful sources, such as olive oil, nuts, and avocado. Sometimes, a doctor may advise taking supplementary pancreatic enzymes and acid reducing medications to help ease digestion.
Read more on dietary measures to support pancreatic cancer.
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