Sunday March 16, 2008

Patrick Swayze’s life could be saved by a group of British surgeons who have come forward to offer their help to the Hollywood star, who is dying of pancreatic cancer.

The team, based in London, say they can now help people in the advanced stage of the disease. Without surgery, victims have only a five per cent chance of surviving five years.

Kito Fusai, the surgeon heading the team at the Royal Free Hospital in London, told Britain’s Sunday Express newspaper “If he [Swayze] came over here we would operate on him. It would be a pleasure.”

The new technique, which involves removing part of the portal vein that sits behind the pancreas and replacing it with part of the jugular vein from the patient’s neck, is expected to save hundreds of lives in Britain every year. It was performed for the first time in December.

The Dirty Dancing star, 55, earlier this month confirmed that he is being treated for the disease, which many doctors say is almost impossible to beat.

Swayze, 55, was told he has the cancer in January, and has been visiting the Stanford University’s Cancer Center, where he has received several chemo treatments. The star’s tumor allegedly shrank during the period of treatment, but doctors have told him to expect the worst,

At present only 700 of the 7,500 people a year in Britain who develop pancreatic cancer undergo surgery. This is because it has been virtually impossible to operate on the cancer if it has spread.

For many sufferers, the only alternative to surgery is chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Mr Fusai, who carried out the procedure with fellow surgeon Dinesh Sharma, is excited by the possibilities the treatment now offers.

He said: “This now gives us more options to help patients suffering from this dreadful cancer which has just about the worst survival rates of all cancers.”

The 10-hour operation requires the expertise of vascular surgeons who remove part of the jugular vein so it can replace the cancerous portal vein.

The first patient to be operated on in this way by the Royal Free team, a woman in her 50s from London, is recovering well after surgery.

More similar operations are planned soon.