Who exactly do pancreatic cancer patients see?

  Which hospital, which department and who do pancreatic cancer patients actually go to? This is a very real problem. Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis due to its poor efficacy, short median survival period and poor prognosis. One wrong step in its diagnosis and treatment can delay the disease and deprive patients of the best treatment opportunity. According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, multidisciplinary team (MDT) is the most appropriate treatment model for pancreatic cancer patients.  The diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer is insidious and difficult to diagnose at an early stage, so many patients are not properly diagnosed and treated in regular hospitals after the onset of pancreatic cancer.  According to the statistics in Shanghai, only 9.6% of pancreatic cancer patients can receive multidisciplinary and relatively standardized treatment. Which hospital, which department and who should pancreatic cancer patients go to? This is a very real problem.  Some patients go to gastroenterology department to take stomach medicine for three months because of stomach pain; some patients go to traditional Chinese medicine department to take traditional Chinese medicine for six months, but the tumor grows very big within six months; some patients can receive surgery to remove the tumor, but they go to some secondary hospitals to receive gamma knife treatment; some patients can receive surgery to remove the tumor. Some patients could have received surgery to remove the tumor, but ran to some secondary hospitals to receive gamma knife treatment; some patients even ran to the nephrology department, orthopedics treatment. Only after a round of tossing and turning, they are finally sent to a standardized pancreatic specialist for treatment, but most of them have already lost the opportunity for the best treatment, especially the opportunity for surgery.  MDT maximizes the benefits of patient treatment Why does this phenomenon occur? The current hospital subspecialty system in China has certain limitations, which leads to an unregulated treatment process and makes patients lose the best opportunity for surgery. Prof. Ni pointed out that in 1983, the United States conducted a study on multidisciplinary comprehensive diagnosis and treatment, which increased the survival rate of patients from 28% to 86%. Therefore, MDT is not only a need for clinicians, but also the most appropriate treatment model for patients with super large and high risk pancreatic cancer.  The role of MDT is firstly, in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, multidisciplinary consultation discusses which means to use to confirm the type of pancreatic cancer and the clinical stage of the tumor; secondly, according to the type and stage of pancreatic cancer, the consultation can formulate a reasonable, accurate and effective optimal treatment plan; thirdly, for some patients with complex conditions, multidisciplinary consultation can evaluate the patient’s situation more comprehensively and give the most appropriate treatment plan. The significance of MDT is that it can fully and reasonably utilize medical resources to maximize the benefits of patient treatment and achieve “planned, step-by-step, individualized and orderly treatment.”  MDT in different hospitals has different models and centers MDT in different hospitals has different models and centers, some hospitals are centered on surgery, some hospitals are centered on medical oncology, some hospitals are centered on radiotherapy, in addition, it is supplemented by endoscopy, Chinese medicine, pathology, diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, ultrasound medicine, etc., to jointly consult and evaluate pancreatic tumor stage and tumor classification, and determine individualized and comprehensive treatment. In addition, endoscopy, traditional Chinese medicine, pathology, radiology, nuclear medicine and ultrasound medicine will be used to assess the stage and classification of pancreatic tumors and determine the individualized and comprehensive treatment.  Since surgery is still the only treatment for pancreatic cancer, pancreatic surgery still plays a pivotal role in MDT, and more exploration is needed in the following three aspects: first, innovative surgical methods to make this difficult and high-risk surgery safer; second, standardizing the scope of lymphatic dissection to make the surgery more reasonable; third, predicting the benefit of surgery and screening the patient population. Third, to predict the benefit of surgery, screen the patient population, make the surgery more targeted, and actively carry out individualized treatment.