Doctors at London’s Royal Free Hospital say people with advanced pancreatic cancer still have a second chance for life, if they are operated using a new technique.

The surgery involves cutting away the tumor along with the portal vein, a major vessel in the pancreas, and replacing it with the jugular vein from the neck. The first such surgery was performed on a female patient, who is now recovering well. The surgery also removes the portal vein because pancreatic cancer often invades that part of the pancreas as it advances.

 “If discovered early, before it has spread to other major organs such as the liver or lungs, the cancer may be treatable. However, currently only a small proportion of patients - around 10% - are suitable for surgery. The only treatment for the vast majority of patients is chemotherapy or palliative treatment. This technique is exciting as it enables us to offer a whole new group of patients the opportunity for surgery. We expect it will double the number of patients each year - potentially saving many hundreds more lives,” surgeon Kito Fusai, who performed the first procedure with his colleague Dinesh Sharma, according to BBC News.

The breakthrough in the UK comes just a week after media reports said “Dirty Dancing” star Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and his doctor George Fisher is optimistic about Swayze’s future who was reportedly given only several weeks to live.

There is no cure for advanced pancreatic cancer, with most patients given just six months to live. Chemotherapy and surgery are administered to those diagnosed in the earlier stages, but just 3 percent are alive five years later of the 7,400 people who get it each year. Unfortunately, people with pancreatic cancer usually have no symptoms until the disease is in an advanced stage.