Pancreatic cancer has the highest death rate of all major cancers and is also difficult to treat.

Now, researchers have found a new treatment method that may help some live longer.

People with pancreatic cancer often face a grim outlook. Only about 13 percent will be alive five years after their diagnosis.

Surgery is the key to beating this deadly cancer. Sometimes, patients receive chemotherapy after surgery.

Now, a new study out of Yale looked at giving chemo before and after surgery.

"Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is what we term for individuals who need chemotherapy prior to surgery," Baylor Scott and White Medical Center Oncologist Philip Kovoor said.

Doctors hoped that this expanded chemo treatment plan would help wipe away any stray cancer cells in pancreatic cancer patients.

"It helps us to clear margins and remove all cancer, and it also helps us to go after any seeds of cancer that may have spread," Koover said.

In the study, researchers followed 46 participants.

For 67 percent of them, the disease did not worsen, and 59 percent lived at least two years after completing the chemo and surgery regimen.

These numbers might not sound impressive but, when the study began, 90 percent of patients with operable pancreatic cancers were relapsing and dying eventually.

Kovoor studies and treats all forms of cancer and was not part of this study, but he shares what all cancer doctors seek.

"Our goal, god willing, is to eradicate all signs of cancer," Koover said.

This study is one step closer to helping people with pancreatic cancer live longer and better.

While these findings are encouraging, only about 15 to 20 percent of people with pancreatic cancer are eligible for surgery.

Most patients don't find the cancer until it's already spread throughout the body.