Pancreatic surgery has traditionally been an invasive procedure. But now, Mary Dillhoff, MD, and other surgeons at the James utilize a minimally invasive, robotic surgery called the Whipple procedure (named after the surgeon who came up with it). In this episode, Dillhoff explains the Whipple procedure and its advantages, and she also discusses the new James pancreatic cancer multidisciplinary clinic. “It’s less invasive and we actually have a better field of vision,” Dillhoff said of the Whipple procedure. Rather than one long incision, six small incisions are made, into which cameras and robotic arms operated by the surgeon are inserted. Dillhoff and other James pancreatic cancer surgeons have performed about 150 Whipple surgeries. “It’s a complicated surgery and that’s why patients do better when they have an expert who just does these operations,” she said. The pancreatic multidisciplinary clinic was designed with patients in mind. “Patients with pancreatic cancer need to see multiple specialists, and with our multidisciplinary clinic, they can see them all in one day,” Dillhoff said. Patients be scanned, get their lab work done, meet with their oncologist, surgeon and therapists, and leave with a complete game plan for treatment and recovery in hand. “We have a great team,” Dillhoff said.