LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It's one of the deadliest cancers out there and doctors say it's only getting worse.
Pancreatic cancer is usually caught in the later stages, which is why its survival rate is so low. But a new therapy focused on locally advanced pancreatic cancer is showing positive results.
"This is the best the country's got," Dr. Robert Martin, with UofL's surgical oncology department said.
It's called "Irreversible electroporation" or IRE, a procedure which uses electrical currents to damage and destroy cancer cells which cannot be surgically removed.
Dr. Martin performs the procedure weekly and says patients who've received this treatment at the University of Louisville are living longer.
"It's not great. I don't argue that, but it's two more years," Dr. Martin said.
The overall median survival rate has increased from 13 months to 30.5 months That's the difference a decade has made for people who, back then, were given about a year to live.
The results from IRE are promising but doctors are still in trial mode.
"We will not get a magic bullet. I'm not going to take someone with a 13-month survival and give them 15 years. It's just not going to work in pancreatic cancer," Dr. Martin said.
It's aggressive and yet silent. Cancer growing inside the pancreas is almost invisible to the immune system, which is why 80% of people don't experience symptoms until the later stages.
It's hard to find early on and screenings aren't recommended.
"When we have national societies that say, 'we're not paying for screening,' insurance companies and Medicare's going to say, 'not unless you cash pay,'" he said.
Dr. Martin says there isn't enough enthusiasm for this research.
"What I would call the breast cancer empowerment to pancreatic cancer," Martin said.
While the numbers of cases aren't as high as other cancers like breast, colon or lung, it's more lethal. Close to 46,000 people will lose their battle with it this year.
The five-year survival rate sits between 3 and 8 percent.
"I'm taking small incremental improvements. 13 to 30.5. That's my cheerleading pom-pom right now," Martin said.
Today, more than 350 pancreatic cancer patients have enrolled in UofL trials, using the combination of IRE therapies and chemo.
"They're thankful for the two years. It still hurts when I hear they've passed away but then spouses say, they got to see this child married, or this child go to college. So, there is a couple more events they get to see. But you're right, we're not hitting it out of the park."
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