Relevance of Educational Factors in the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer

Introduction: radical pancreatic resections are the only chance to cure a pancreatic cancer, if the tumor is in an early stage of development. The results of the surgical teams have constantly improved in time, in terms of survival and a good quality of life. Unfortunately, only a small part of the patients benefit from surgical interventions. The causes of this phenomenon are complex, educational factors playing an important role. Material and Methods: 44 patients with pancreatoduodenectomy, operated between 2005 and 2008 were divided in 2 groups. Several parameters were recorded, including age, sex, level of education and place of origin, associated diabetes mellitus, these being studied in relation with the postoperative morbidity and mortality. Results: the morbidity after operation was 65,90%, and the mortality – 6,81%. The level of education, age, socioeconomic status, the presence of diabetes mellitus did not significantly influence the morbidity and the mortality after pancreatoduodenectomy. Conclusions: the postoperative morbidity and mortality are more incidental in small medical centers, but their values are acceptable, if compared with the data from the literature. Excluding the potential patients candidates for radical surgery because they are old or they have poor economic status is not a justified attitude. Education of the patients, medical stuff and surgeons is very important and it can raise the number of healed cases and could change the perception on pancreatic cancer.