The wipple surgery my friend has to have it done whats the rick?

my friend was told the she ahs cancer in the ampulla deodenum and there is a block in the bile duck and pancress duct concered about what the survial rate is

The Whipple procedure is a very technical and difficult surgery for the surgeon so it is essential to have a surgeon who specializes in this surgery or does this surgery very frequently in order to obtain the best chances of a good prognosis. Your friend has little choice whether or not to try the surgery since the alternative is certain death, but make sure the surgeon is an expert. good luck

Scand J Gastroenterol. 1998 Jul;33(7):759-64. Links
Whipple's operation for carcinoma of the pancreatic head and the ampullary region. Short-and long-term results.Sorensen MB, Lundemose JB, Rokkjaer M, Jacobsen NO.
Dept. of Surgery L and Institute of Pathology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus Kommunehospital, Denmark.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: In this retrospective review short- and long-term perspectives have been evaluated for 108 patients who, during 1982 through 1992, had Whipple's operation performed for carcinoma of the pancreatic head (PC, n=63) or the ampullary region (AC, n=45). In 24 patients the operation was not radical (21 with PC and 3 with AC). RESULTS: Total perioperative morbidity was 60%, and 13 patients (12%) died within 30 days of operation. This decreased from 15.2% in the first half of the study period to 8.2% in the second half. Recurrence occurred in 56.2% of the remaining 73 patients, with no significant differences between PC and AC. Recurrence was related to regional lymph node metastases and poor tumour differentiation. Overall 5-year survival was 7.4% for PC and 24.8% for AC. For patients with radically excised tumours surviving 30 days the 5-year survival rates were 13.1% for PC and 30% for AC. CONCLUSION: Careful preoperative evaluation is still of great importance.

PMID: 9712242

If the cancer is only in the deodenum, then they will remove it and fix the ducts, and if the stage isn't too advance, there is a high rate of cure.

In layman's terms, statistically, the whipple 1 year and 5 year survival rates are better than no treatment at all, but not much. That, of course is statistics. My oncologist has had patients that have lasted up to nine years after undergoing whipple and follow up chemo and radiation. Visit the American Cancer Society website, Johns Hopkins and others and wade through the medical terminology and you can get an idea of what your friend is up against. In my case, even after numerous MRI's, X rays, cat scans etc, including an endoscopy that included a biopsy confirming adeno carcinoma, I was told that a final decision on the procedure would only be made once they had opened me up and confirmed the size of the tumor and whether it had metastisized to other organs. In other words, none of the tests could confirm if I was a whipple candidate or not.
This a really tough cancer and I hope it was diagnosed early enough for your friend to be one of the good statistics.