5% vs. 40% p=0.005). Conclusion While resection of pancreatic cancer can be performed with low perioperative mortality, the associated perioperative morbidity can be significant. Recent advances in surgical instrumentation have made wide spread adoption of laparoscopic distal

pancreatectomy possible. Similar to experience in other cancer types, the initial oncologic outcome with laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy appear comparable to open distal pancreatectomy. The advantage of minimally invasive surgery in terms of less blood loss and shorter hospital stay was also Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical observed. The advances in surgical techniques also allow more aggressive surgical resection to be Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical performed with acceptable perioperative mortality and morbidity. With the advances

in systemic treatment of pancreatic cancer, the ability to achieve negative resection margin will improve the outcome of patients with this aggressive disease. Footnotes No potential conflict of interest.
Adenocarcinoma of pancreas is the fourth Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical most common cause of cancer-related death among U.S. men and women. Due to lack of specific symptoms and effective screening modality, about 80% of pancreatic cancer cases are diagnosed at advanced stage with locally advanced or metastatic disease. Surgical resection remains the only curative therapy for pancreatic cancer patients, and 5-year survival for surgically resected patients is only 30%. Therefore, more research and novel strategies are urgently needed to understand biology better, detect the selleck compound disease sooner, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and develop better treatment to improve survival and quality of life. In this focused issue, we have covered important topics related to biology, detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Imaging modality is important to identify patients at risk for pancreatic cancer. With the advance of imaging modality and technique, there has been significant improvement in identifying smaller tumor in pancreas. At present time, only about 15-20%

of patients have resectable disease at the time of diagnosis. Preoperative staging to assess the extent of disease is critical to select patients for complete (R0) resection. Besides distant metastasis, lesions involving superior mesenteric artery and/or celiac axis are generally considered unresectable. Pre-operative evaluation with computed tomography and other modality PD184352 (CI-1040) such as endoscopic ultrasound can better select patients for R0 resection. Tummala et al. have reviewed different imaging modalities and their utility in assessing patients with suspicious pancreatic lesion, and identifying unresectable disease in patients with pancreatic cancer (1). The improvement in perioperative care and surgical techniques has led to decrease in mortality and morbidity for patients receiving resection of pancreatic cancer.