Updated: 17 November 2005

The frequency of follow-up for pancreas cancer patients should be individualized depending on the stage of the disease. For those few patients who have had curable surgery, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy, more frequent follow-up with history, physical examination, diagnostic imaging and tumour markers every three months for the first year and every six months thereafter may be of use to detect early recurrence although the value of this approach has not been demonstrated in clinical trials. Unfortunately the majority of curatively treated patients will relapse with incurable disease. Most patients have advanced metastatic disease at presentation, so follow-up will be dependent upon their physical condition and problems.