Adjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer: an evolving paradigm.

Journal Article (Journal Article;Review)

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death in men and fifth in women in the United States. The median survival is 8 to 12 months for patients with locally advanced and unresectable disease and only 3 to 6 months for those with metastatic disease at presentation. Surgical resection offers the only potentially curative treatment. However, only 15% to 20% of patients present with tumors amenable to resection at initial diagnosis. Even for those who undergo resection, the prognosis remains poor. The 5-year survival following pancreaticoduodenectomy is only about 25% to 30% for node-negative tumors and 10% for node-positive tumors. Because of the dismal outcome for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer, adjuvant therapy has been administered in an attempt to improve the local control and overall survival. This review highlights historic and current perspectives of adjuvant therapy in resected pancreatic cancer.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Zhu, AX; Clark, JW; Willett, CG

Published Date

  • October 2004

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 13 / 4

Start / End Page

  • 605 - viii

PubMed ID

  • 15350937

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1055-3207

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.soc.2004.06.003

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States