An operation for people with advanced pancreatic cancer has been performed by UK doctors for the first time. This development attracts attention after it was announced film star Patrick Swayze is battling the disease.
A team at London's Royal Free Hospital used the new technique, pioneered in the US, in December, it has emerged.
It involved cutting away the tumour along with the portal vein - a major vessel in the pancreas - and replacing it with the jugular vein from the neck.
Most of pancreatic cancer patients are in their late 60s and 70s, which is one reason why 55-year-old Swayze's diagnosis came as such a surprise.
Source: Based on Various Sources
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