According to doctors the surgery is complicated, but it is not as risky as the patients think. The surgery, if performed on time, can extend the patient's life.
The study also added that nearly 30 percent of patients, who get the surgery in the initial stages, tend to live for at least five years, compared with less than 5 percent of early-stage patients who don't get the operation.
AP quotes Dr. Mark Talamonti, study co-author a cancer surgeon at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital and chief of surgical oncology at Northwestern University's as saying, "It is still a formidable disease, but if you're caught with early-stage disease, at least there is reasonable hope."
The authors based their study on an analysis of a national cancer database maintained by the American College of Surgeons, which released the results Thursday. According to researchers, nearly 3,644 patients out of 9,559 with early-stage disease, or about 38 percent, did not opt for surgery.
According to the study, the patients who avoided the surgery the most consisted of African-Americans, patients older than 65, and those with lower annual incomes and education. The reason for avoidance can be attributed to the lack of access to centers experienced in doing the surgery.
The study will appear in the August edition of Annals of Surgery, which recently printed an early online version.
