Cancer doctors back fired surgeons at Rigshospitalet

A nationwide group of pancreatic cancer specialists says procedures at Rigshospitalet’s pancreatic cancer surgery department followed established practice, DR reported. The statement comes after three senior consultants were fired from the hospital.

The Danish Pancreatic Cancer Group, whose members set national guidelines for treating pancreatic cancer, issued its statement a day after a crisis meeting in the Capital Region. Following the meeting, Rigshospitalet announced an external review of previous treatment at the department.

The review will examine whether scientific practices for documenting experimental surgery were disregarded. The group said the scrutiny raises questions about medical expertise across Denmark. Its chair, Claus Fristrup, a surgeon at Odense University Hospital, said patient selection for advanced cases is decided jointly by doctors from across the country, not by a single surgeon at Rigshospitalet.

The doctors said the procedure in question, DP-CAR, is complex and performed on about five patients a year in Denmark. They said there is agreement that these operations should be concentrated at Rigshospitalet.

“The group’s assessment is that DP-CAR is an established treatment routinely used at several major centres in Europe. It is therefore not an experimental surgical procedure,” the group said. It added that Rigshospitalet has continuously registered the treatment and that doctors from across Denmark jointly select suitable patients.

The group said patients receive thorough information about the operation and alternatives, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It added that surgery remains the only curative treatment for pancreatic cancer. DR said it was seeking comment from Rigshospitalet.