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A new center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital now offers a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic, biliary tract and other related cancers.

The Jefferson Center for Pancreatic, Biliary and Related Cancers will provide patients with a focused approach to pancreatic cancer and other diseases of the pancreas, bile ducts, liver, stomach and other related upper abdominal organs. 

“We offer broad surgical expertise in minimally invasive and open surgical resection or palliative procedures,” said Charles J. Yeo, M.D., Samuel D. Gross Professor and Chair of Surgery; one of the center’s co-Directors. “We also work with superb radiologists and gastroenterologists to evaluate and treat these patients, as well as with Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center to provide state-of-the-art chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and extensive research into the molecular mechanisms that underlie the disease process.

“Jefferson is now the leading institution in the Delaware Valley for both clinical care and related research on these tumors,” said Dr. Yeo.       

The new center’s other co-directors include:

Donald Mitchell, M.D., Professor of Radiology, Jefferson
Agnes Witkiewicz, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology, Jefferson
Thomas Kowalski, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Jefferson
Jonathan Brody, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery, Jefferson

Pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in this country, takes some 30,000 lives a year. The disease is difficult to treat, particularly because it is frequently detected after it has spread to other areas of the body. Only four percent of all individuals with pancreatic cancer live for five years after diagnosis, while approximately 25 percent of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer who undergo successful surgical removal of their tumor live at least that long.

“Pancreatic, biliary tract and other related cancers are among the most deadly of all malignancies,” Dr. Yeo noted.

But recent figures give new hope: for those who live for five years after surgical resection of pancreatic cancer, some 55 percent will be alive at least another five years.

Dr. Yeo said the best approach to screening and diagnosing such cancers relies on a multidisciplinary team of physicians, working in collaboration with research scientists.

“There is now ample data to support the notion that patients receive optimal care, and have better short and long term outcomes when treated in centers staffed by professionals dedicated to these diseases,” he said.

For more information or to make an appointment, call 1-800-JEFF-NOW or go online at www.jeffersonhospital.org or visit the Department of Surgery website at  www.jeffersonhospital.org/surgery.