This page was reviewed under our medical and editorial policy by
Toufic Kachaamy, MD, Chief of Medicine, City of Hope Phoenix
This page was updated on May 26, 2023.
Understanding the stages of pancreatic cancer is helpful in planning the appropriate treatment. Cancer stages are determined by testing, rather than specific symptoms.
Most of the time, pancreatic cancer lacks symptoms in the early stages, so it’s often caught in more advanced stages, when the cancer has already spread beyond the pancreas.
This article will cover:
If pancreatic cancer has spread, the patient may notice new symptoms. Most often, pancreatic cancer spreads to the liver, but it can also move into the lymph nodes, abdomen, lungs and, sometimes, the bones.
Advanced pancreatic cancer symptoms may include:
If any of these symptoms occur, check with the care team to determine a cause. Also, keep in mind that these symptoms may be due to other conditions.
Pancreatic cancer is usually staged differently than other types of cancers. While many cancers are staged using the TNM system, which categorizes tumors based on diagnostic tests and classifications that happen during pancreatic cancer surgery, many patients with this disease don’t have surgery, so the TNM system isn’t used as often to stage these diseases.
Instead, pancreatic cancer tumors are more often classified into one of four categories based on where they have spread and whether they’re able to be removed during surgery.
Resectable pancreatic cancer hasn’t spread outside the pancreas or has only gone just past it. Resectable cancer can be removed by surgery.
With borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, the tumor may, when first diagnosed, appear to be too difficult to remove surgically. However, surgery may still be an option if the tumor can be reduced in size through radiation therapy or chemotherapy treatment.
Locally advanced pancreatic cancer has spread just beyond the pancreas and may have reached nearby arteries, veins or organs—which means surgery is not an option. However, it hasn’t spread into more distant areas of the body.
Metastatic pancreatic cancer has spread beyond the pancreas into distant areas of the body, such as the liver, abdomen or lungs. After a patient has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the care team will let him or her know the stage of the cancer, along with what it means for the treatment plan.
The TNM staging system, from the American Joint Committee on Cancer, uses numbers and letters, such as stage 0 or stage 1A, to describe the size and location of pancreatic cancer. Again, this system is used rarely in staging pancreatic cancer, typically only in instances where the patient does not undergo surgery.
This staging system is based on:
T (tumor) size, and whether the cancer has grown into blood vessels near the pancreas
N (nodes), which describes weather it's spread to nearby lymph nodes
M (metastasis), determined by whether the cancer has spread to distant lymph nodes or organs
Below is more information on those stages, and the corresponding TNM indications.
In this stage, the pancreas has abnormal cells that might become cancer and spread to nearby tissue.
Cancer is limited to the pancreas in stage 1.
Stage 3 describes cancer that has spread to four or more lymph nodes near the tumor and/or major blood vessels near the pancreas. The tumor can be any size.
In stage 4, the tumor has spread to other parts of the body, such as the liver, lungs or bones. The tumor can be any size.
After determining the cancer stage, a care team will plan treatment using the following groupings:
Treatment for stage 0 (carcinoma in situ), 1A, 1B and 2A pancreatic cancer typically involves resection, as these tumors are small enough to be surgically removed.
Surgical resection is the best option in terms of achieving a higher survival rate for pancreatic cancer. After surgery, the patient may receive adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation treatment to help destroy any remaining cancer cells and prevent a recurrence.
Resectable pancreatic cancer may be surgically removed because it has not expanded into major blood vessels. About 10 percent to 15 percent of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed at this stage, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Surgery is a potential treatment option for about 20 percent of those with pancreatic cancer, ASCO says. This percentage is low because pancreatic cancer is typically diagnosed after it has spread. Sometimes other treatments, such as radiation therapy, are used before surgery.
For this type of cancer, doctors use the following surgical procedures:
In addition to surgery, doctors may also use one or more of the following treatments for pancreatic cancer:
Depending on the location of stage 2A, stage 2B and stage 3 pancreatic cancers, treatment often involves resection in combination with neoadjuvant treatment to shrink the tumor before surgery takes place. Borderline resectable pancreatic cancer has grown into nearby tissues, organs or a major blood vessel. Although it may be possible to remove the tumor, surgeons may not be able to extract all of the cancer via surgery. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation may be administered to shrink the tumor to allow for resection. Adjuvant treatment via chemotherapy or radiation may be performed after surgery to help destroy possible remaining cancer cells.
This type of pancreatic cancer has grown into nearby tissues, organs or a major blood vessel. Although it may be possible to remove the tumor, surgeons may not be able to extract all of the cancer via surgery. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy may be used to shrink the tumor, to make it possible to remove it surgically.
Even if the cancer can’t be removed, doctors have use of several procedures to improve a patient’s symptoms or quality of life, including:
The most common treatment for stage 4 cancer is chemotherapy, though clinical trials may offer additional options. Surgery won’t completely remove this type of pancreatic cancer because it has spread to other organs (for example, the lungs or liver). About 45 percent to 55 percent of pancreatic cancer patients are diagnosed at this stage, according to ASCO.
This refers to cancer that has returned after treatment. It may appear in the pancreas or elsewhere in the body. Cancer that occurs again may be restaged, meaning that doctors will add a new staging classification to the original stage. The new classification doesn’t replace the original stage. A care team may recommend chemotherapy or new anticancer agents in addition to or instead of chemotherapy to treat recurrent pancreatic cancer.
Clinical trials provide state-of-the-art care and new treatments, and help cancer care teams improve the available treatments. Clinical trials for cancer always compare new treatments to standard care. Trials are supported by several organizations, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and online listing search services are available, such as NCI’s “Steps to Find A Clinical Trial.” The NCI also has a website for pancreatic cancer treatment-focused trials. It’s important to check with a doctor to make sure clinical trials are right for the patient.
Pancreatic cancer survival rates are based on groups, but every patient’s situation is unique. The National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program tracks five-year survival rates for all types of cancer based on data from previous patients and sometimes older treatments.
Based on people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer between 2013 and 2019, SEER data on life expectancy shows:
It’s important to remember that life expectancy rates for pancreatic cancer are constantly improving, so patients diagnosed now typically have better outcomes than those diagnosed in the past.