Pancreatic cancer · Guide
Pancreatic cancer explorer: guide
Show the pancreas within the body, enter the tumour’s part, size and reported vessel contact, explain the operation and share a matching picture sheet.
For patients and families
Look at the picture together
The picture opens with the whole body. Choose Abdomen to see the pancreas behind the stomach, which is shown see-through, then Pancreas to move close. Drag to turn it and scroll or pinch to zoom.
Show what your team has found
Your clinician can enter which part of the pancreas the tumour is in and its size, and show a blood vessel your report says it touches, or a stent in the bile duct. The slice in the corner shows the same level as a CT scan would. The shape is schematic, not a copy of your scan.
Things you could ask
“Can you show me where it is, using my report?”
“Is an operation possible, and what would be removed?”
“How can my symptoms be helped?”
Take it home
Ask for a picture sheet with the views you discussed, your team’s explanation, what the body part does and where to find help. A QR code reopens the same model settings on your phone. Names, notes and contact details are never included in that code or saved online.
For clinicians
Start with orientation
The explorer adds the pancreas (head with uncinate process, neck, body and tail), duodenum, bile and pancreatic ducts, gallbladder, spleen, kidneys, aorta, IVC, SMA and SMV/portal vein to the shared body and digestive tract. The stomach and bowel are drawn see-through on this page. It opens at normal anatomy.
Set up from the report
| Control | What to set |
|---|---|
| Tumour on the model | Add one tumour. Changing a tumour setting also adds it. |
| Part of the pancreas | Head, neck, body or tail, as written in the report. |
| Longest diameter | 5–100 mm. |
| Vessel contact | None, a vein (portal vein or SMV) or an artery (SMA, coeliac or hepatic), as described in the report; the vessel is shown in purple. The model does not grade contact or decide resectability. |
| Stent in the bile duct | Shows a biliary stent through the head of the pancreas to the duodenum. |
Explain a selected plan
Whipple’s operation, distal pancreatectomy and total pancreatectomy colour the tissue removed teal. After surgery shows what remains and, after a Whipple’s or total pancreatectomy, a schematic loop of small bowel with the joins marked. The team selects the plan. Vascular resection, pylorus preservation and palliative bypass are not modelled.
Picture sheet and QR code
Capture up to four views with Snapshot, then use Picture sheet (PDF). The sheet can include a help and support page. The QR link stores validated model settings only. Changing any model setting clears older snapshots.
Limits
- One tumour is illustrated. Liver or peritoneal spread, lymph nodes and cystic lesions are not shown.
- The anatomy and the joins after surgery are schematic.
Sources and review
Practising HPB surgeon review is still needed for clinical teaching use. Please send corrections through feedback.