The Oncology Guideline Program has updated its S3 guideline on exocrine pancreatic cancer. The revised version contains, among other things, new recommendations on diagnostics, curative and palliative therapy of pancreatic cancer, and minimum volumes for surgical interventions. The S3 guideline was developed under the auspices of the German Society for Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic Diseases (DGVS) and with the participation of 29 professional societies and organizations. The goal is to demonstrate evidence-based treatment options and to improve the therapy of patienten with pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the tumors with a very poor prognosis. Since malignant diseases of the pancreas hardly cause any symptoms in the early stages and there are no possibilities for early detection of these tumors, pancreatic carcinomas are often diagnosed only at an advanced stage. According to the Robert Koch Institute, 9,160 women and 9,860 men were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2018. In turn, 9,143 women and 9,189 men died in the same year. The number of new cases of pancreatic cancer in Germany – in contrast to many other tumor diseases – is increasing year after year.
No cure can be achieved by the use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy alone. To date, surgery is the only treatment option for pancreatic cancer that offers a chance of cure. However, this surgical procedure is highly complex and requires not only an excellent surgeon but also a team that is very experienced in caring for patients after the operation. “Studies show that patients who are operated on at hospitals or centers with a higher number of cases have a better prognosis. For this reason, the S3 guideline recommends for the first time a minimum number of 20 pancreatic resections per year for hospitals,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Seufferlein, Ulm University Hospital. He is coordinator of the S3 guideline.
The guideline also updated recommendations on genetic testing for relatives at familial risk for pancreatic cancer, as well as treatment concepts for advanced and metastatic tumors. The S3 guideline on exocrine pancreatic cancer is available on this website: https://www.leitlinienprogramm-onkologie.de/leitlinien/pankreaskarzinom
