Improvements in diagnosis, staging, surgical techniques, anesthesia, and postoperative care have reduced the short-term death rate for patients who undergo the Whipple procedure for pancreatic cancer to less than 4% when the operation is performed at cancer centers by experienced surgeons. At some major centers, the reported death rate is less than 1%. But the rate may still be above 15% in patients who are treated at small hospitals or by less experienced surgeons.