15 Options for Pancreatic Cancer Treatment That May Help You

5. Palliative Care

A patient who has advanced pancreatic cancer may elect to have palliative care in combination with curative measures or independent of curative measures to help improve their quality of life. Pancreatic cancer is known to be one of the most painful types of cancer someone can have. This pain is due to the close proximity of the organ to nerves in the abdomen and structures of the back. Prescription-strength pain medication is commonly used in patients for palliative care if they can handle the side effects. Other methods used to help alleviate pain from pancreatic cancer include having a nerve block to destroy or disable the nerves being compressed by the tumor. Pain and digestive problems stemming from pancreatic cancer that grows around the ducts can be alleviated with a procedure to widen and hold the ducts open. Methods such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and tumor ablation may also be used for palliative care to alleviate pain by shrinking the tumors even when the patient may not desire to use them for curative purposes.

6. Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy uses drugs designed to attack specific genetic changes or proteins in cancer cells—leaving healthy cells mostly untouched. In pancreatic cancer, therapies like erlotinib (which blocks EGFR) are used when tumors express particular mutations. While not universally effective, targeted therapy can be life-changing for a subset of patients with the right molecular profile. Doctors may perform genetic testing on tumor samples to determine eligibility. Unlike broad-spectrum chemotherapy, these medications aim to disrupt cancer growth with fewer systemic side effects, though fatigue, rash, or diarrhea may occur. This approach exemplifies personalized medicine—precision over generalization.