Faculty Collaboration Database

Preoperative chemoradiation for pancreatic cancer. Semin Oncol 2005 Dec;32(6 Suppl 9):S25-9

Date

01/10/2006

Pubmed ID

16399426

DOI

10.1053/j.seminoncol.2005.04.021

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-30544444088 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   15 Citations

Abstract

Evaluation of the potential value of chemotherapy and radiation therapy in improving local disease control and survival of patients with pancreatic cancer requires accurate pretreatment staging to define the study population and a standardized system for pathologic evaluation of surgical specimens to determine the completeness of resection. These critical steps are rarely taken in pancreatic cancer studies, which leads to a heterogeneous patient population and renders interpretation of the published literature difficult. Single-institution experiences suggest that local failure rates are lower when either preoperative or postoperative chemoradiation is combined with surgery for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Yet, clinical trials concerning the advantages of preoperative or postoperative chemoradiotherapy have yielded mixed results. Clinical trials involving patients with localized pancreatic cancer are needed that use accurate, reproducible pretreatment staging techniques, and standardized pathologic evaluation of surgical specimens.

Author List

Evans DB

Author

Douglas B. Evans MD Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Antineoplastic Agents
Combined Modality Therapy
Humans
Neoadjuvant Therapy
Neoplasm Staging
Pancreatic Neoplasms
Radiotherapy
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic