ABOUT THIS EPISODE
What is the difference between Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor (PNET) and Pancreatic Cancer? Where exactly is the pancreas located and why is the tumor location important? NET Oncologist Dr. Jennifer Chan from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute takes us through how some treatments, imaging and blood work are unique to PNETs. She also expounds on several ongoing and active trials.
MEET THE SPEAKER
JENNIFER CHAN, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Institute Physician, Division of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Jennifer Chan, MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Institute Physician in the Division of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. She focuses her clinical practice on the care of patients with neuroendocrine tumors and gastrointestinal cancers.
Dr. Chan is the Director of the Program in Neuroendocrine and Carcinoid Tumors and Clinical Director for the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center. She has been principal investigator of multiple clinical trials investigating novel therapies for neuroendocrine tumors and has been involved in studies examining factors associated with clinical outcomes in patients with neuroendocrine tumors.
Dr. Chan is a past chair of the Guidelines Committee of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) and serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Neuroendocrine Tumors Guidelines Panel. She is a member of the Neuroendocrine Tumor Taskforce of the National Cancer Institute and the Board of Directors of NANETS.
TOP 10 QUESTIONS
1. What are pancreatic NETs? Where are they located? ​
2. How are pancreatic NETs found? What are the symptoms of a pancreatic NET?
3. How is pancreatic NETs different from “pancreatic cancer?” How is it different from a pancreatic cyst?
4. What types of labs, scans, or testing is done to determine if someone has a pancreatic NET?
5. What are some ways that pancreatic NETs differ from other types of NETs? What makes it unique?
6. How do you decide if the pancreatic NET can be surgically removed? What type of surgeon would make that determination?
7. How are pancreatic NETs treated medically (or nonsurgically)? How are treatments sequenced?
8. How are the treatments different from other NETs?
9. How are pancreatic NETs monitored? What types of bloodwork or tests should be done and how often should they be done? What is the best type of scan for pancreatic NETs?
10. What are clinical trials we should be aware of or exciting new treatments in the pipeline for pancreatic NETs?
For more resources and a transcript of this episode, visit www.lacnets.org/podcast22.