DEAR DR. ROACH:
My husband was diagnosed with ampullary cancer. He has a tumor the size of a marble. We are told this is an aggressive cancer. My concern is that they are giving him chemotherapy before the Whipple surgery. Is this standard practice?
-- P.T.
ANSWER: The ampulla of Vater is an opening in the duodenum (the first segment of the small intestine), where the common bile duct releases bile a…