Anne Ammons, Registered Dietician and Certified Specialist in Oncology for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the Pancreas Center of New York on the importance of nutrition as it relates to pancreatic cancer treatments. "The pancreas is important in terms of nutrition. It plays two important roles with the digestion of food. It produces the enzymes that help digest and breakdown the food, and it also produces insulin which helps regulate your blood sugar.

Often times it's helpful to have a dietician working alongside you to help both the patient and the caregiver to make adjustments to their diet as they're going through the different stages of treatment, whether it be chemotherapy, surgery. Because food can often become a battle between patient and caregiver. And when you have a poor appetite, you can't even think of foods that you would like to eat or like to try. So sometimes the dietician's most important role is as a source of encouragement, and to create ideas of foods that may be palatable and would also contribute positively to their nutrition status. Like helping with weight gain or wound healing, and tolerating the chemotherapies and being able to move forward with treatment."

Is there a specific diet for pancreatic cancer?

"So there isn't a specific diet for pancreatic cancer, it will vary for everybody. And it also may change throughout the course of their treatment. The primary goals with nutrition therapy no matter where you are in your treatment plan is to prevent or reverse malnutrition; assist in managing side effects from chemotherapy, radiation, surgery; and helping improve quality of life."

Chemotherapy and Diet.

"Often during chemotherapy, the side effects from the medications can cause different issues. Specifically nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, more fatigue. And so often it's helpful to work with a dietician while going through chemotherapy to make the adjustments that you need to your diet."

Surgery and Diet.

"Usually after surgery, one or two days, you'll be advanced to a clear-liquid diet. And then by the time you leave the hospital four or five days later, it's usually a low-fiber, low-fat diet. But that's not a long term diet recommendation. Within four to six weeks after surgery, people are usually back to eating a regular diet. During that time is when you really have to watch for things like gastroparesis. Because sometimes initially after surgery the pain medications can mask the side effects, and then they start to show themselves after a few weeks. So the dietitians are often able to assess those coming out of surgery.

The Pancreas Center offers nutrition as a complimentary service, so whether you're seeing a surgeon, or whether you're receiving chemotherapy, if you come to our clinic, you can meet with a dietician for no additional cost."

Dr Chris goes through the health headlines.

Andrew Ko, MD, FASCO, University of California, San Francisco, CA, discusses the latest developments in the management of pancreatic cancer, including the Precision Promise (PrP) trial (NCT04229004) of multiple novel therapeutic options in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Dr Ko additionally highlights the promising efficacy of pamrevlumab, adjuvant olaparib, and RNA vaccines. This interview took place at the Practical Recommendations in Immuno and Molecular Oncology (PRIMO) 2023 Congress in Honolulu, HI.

These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.

Anindya Bagchi, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute's NCI-Designated Cancer Center

Joseph Herman, MD, MSc, MHCM, Northwell Health Cancer Institute, New Hyde Park, NY, discusses the potential of radiotherapy as a treatment for pancreatic cancer. Dr Herman comments on the use of higher dosage radiation and its efficacy in controlling pancreatic cancer in patients who have and have not undergone surgery. A key limitation for the use of radiotherapy in pancreatic cancer is the lack of clinical trial data in this field. An evolving area of research is the combination of immunotherapy with radiotherapy, where studies have revealed that tumor microenvironments are modified to allow for a locally and systemically increased checkpoint inhibitor response. The importance of patient selection in pancreatic cancer treatment is also highlighted by Dr Herman. This interview took place at the Great Debates and Updates GI Malignancies Debate in Chicago, IL.

These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.