Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee, a specialist in pancreatic cancer at Johns Hopkins Medicine, also highlighted the location of the patient’s metastases or where the cancer had spread. Metastases only arose in the patient’s lungs. Most patients with pancreatic cancer have liver metastases that are more difficult to treat.
“I wish the liver lesions were gone,” Dr. Jaffee said.
Kathy Wilkes, the patient who was successfully treated, is 71 years old and lives in Ormond-by-the-Sea, Florida. It’s too early to tell if the cancer will roar again.
New developments in cancer research
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Progress in the field. In recent years, advances in research have changed the way cancer is treated. Here are some recent updates:
Chemotherapy. There is a silent revolution in the field of cancer treatment: a growing number of patients, especially those with breast and lung cancer, are saving themselves from the dreaded treatment in favor of other options.
Leukemia. After receiving a new treatment, called CAR T cell therapy, more than a decade ago, two patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia saw their blood cancer disappear. Their cases offer hope for people with the disease and create new mysteries.
Esophageal cancer. Nivolumab, an immune-releasing drug, has been found to prolong survival in patients with the disease who participated in a large clinical trial. Esophageal cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the world.
Mrs. Wilkes’ cancer was severe.
“This lady had had all the treatments available and was failing,” said Dr. Jarnagin, who did not treat Ms. Wilkes but reviewed her case. Usually, in these cases, the cancer has developed resistance to any additional treatment.
“For most in this situation, cancer will win soon,” he said.
Ms. Wilkes first noticed the symptoms that were later attributed to pancreatic cancer in 2015. She was tired, lethargic, and had severe pain attacks. At first, the tumors did not appear on the scans. But in early 2018, a tumor appeared: a mass of 3.5 centimeters in the head of his pancreas.
He received chemotherapy followed by a grueling operation, the Whipple procedure, in which surgeons removed the head from the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, the gallbladder, and the gallbladder. He then received more chemotherapy, followed by radiation and even more chemotherapy.
The cancer had disappeared from her pancreas, but nodules appeared in her lungs: metastases. Chemotherapy and radiation continued throughout 2018.
“I just went through this. I certainly wasn’t ready to die,” Ms. Wilkes. “I had this voice inside me saying, ‘You can overcome this.