How is chemotherapy used?
There are different chemotherapy drugs that can be used to treat pancreatic cancer. You may have one chemotherapy drug on its own, or two or three drugs together. This will depend on how fit and well you are.
These are the chemotherapy drugs used for pancreatic cancer, and how they are used together. The brand name of each drug is in brackets.
What will my chemotherapy treatment be like?
You will normally need to have more than one lot of chemotherapy. Each round of chemotherapy is called a cycle. This means you will have one or more treatment sessions and then a gap before the next lot of treatment starts. The gap is to let your body rest.
You will have check-ups and tests before each cycle starts to make sure it’s safe to have the next one. Chemotherapy may be given as an injection, through a drip, as tablets, or as a mix of these.
Read more about how chemotherapy is given.
After you finish your chemotherapy, you will have a check-up with your cancer doctor. You may have some tests and the doctor will check that any side effects of the chemotherapy are getting better.