Removing part of the vein
Sometimes pancreatic cancer grows into or around the major veins next to the pancreas such as the superior mesenteric or portal veins.
To remove the cancer completely, the surgeon may need to do a vein resection and reconstruction (1-3).
Vein resection makes the surgery more complicated. Patients need to be very fit and well to have this type of surgery.
This is specialist surgery and might not be available at every specialist centre (4). In these cases, patients may be referred to another specialist centre to have the surgery. However, not all patients with vascular involvement can have surgery due to the position of the tumour and extent of vascular involvement.
