The Annals of Surgical Oncology published a study that says pancreatic cancer survival is slightly better among patients who have a higher amount of lymph nodes removed during surgery. Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of all cancers, it is usually diagnosed at the later stages since it is a cancer that is hard to detect in the earliest treatable stages.

Cancer recurrence is common after surgery for pancreatic cancer. If the cancer has not metastasized when diagnosed the patients can undergo surgery to remove the tumor. Researchers want to try and find ways to help those undergoing surgery to have the best possible outcome and avoid recurrence.

Researchers collected information of over 1,600 patients who had undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer. The researchers concluded that survival was better for those patients who had 15 or more lymph nodes removed. The survival benefit was mostly seen in those who had node negative disease but there was also a small survival benefit in those with node positive disease.