The 2nd Gastroenterology Foundation and BL Talwar Oration Foundation Day has concluded in PGIMER, with over 100 doctors from around the world and country participating. In his oration, Prof. Rajesh Gupta, head of the Gastroenterology Surgery Department, expressed in the oration how PGI has been able to match the global standards in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Surgery over the years. In this 3-day program, Professor Thilo Hackert, vice-chairman of the Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery at the University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, presented his work in the field of Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Surgery in front of the pioneers of this field, Dr. NM Gupta, Dr. JD Wig, Dr. G Singh, and Dr. Rajan Saxena.
Prof. Hackert discussed how far pancreatic cancer treatment has progressed while presenting his work on pancreatic cancer surgeries and vascular resections that have significantly improved five-year survival in this disease.It is important to understand that the average expected survival in patients with pancreatic cancer is around one year only, as it is a very deadly disease.
Prof. Thilo showed that the resection of the main vein is gradually becoming the standard of care in these patients. He also showed his results of arterial resection when the tumour extends into the main arteries. He explained that there would be considerable improvement in survival, with the five-year survival rate going up to 40 percent with radical surgery. He explained further that such procedures should be done in high-volume centres where each surgeon is doing more than 20 surgeries for pancreatic cancer in a year at least.
Dr. Thilo further added and stressed that since these are major surgical procedures, there is a need for 24-hour ICU and intervention radiology backup. Prof. Gupta informed us that Dr. Thilo also alluded to the role of preoperative chemotherapy in advanced cases of pancreatic cancer. PGI is already using this method to downstage advanced pancreatic cancer and make the case operable. Prof Gupta informed TDG that the Department of Gastroenterology Surgery at PGI is one of the highest volume centres in the country, with our results comparable to the best centres in the world.