[Combination radiotherapy and chemotherapy in cancer of the pancreas. Review of the literature and prospects]

Abstract

Overall prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma is still very poor with median survival around 10 months after radical surgery in operable patients, or after full-dose radiation therapy in non-surgical candidates. In metastatic disease, multidrug chemotherapy regimens give a response rate of around 30% with median survival of 10 months. Random trials conducted by the GITSG in inoperable cases have shown improved results for chemoradiation with 5-FU for radiotherapy alone and a doubling of median survival with a 1-year survival of 40% vs 10%. Incorporation of Adriamycin in these combined modality protocols does not improve the results in terms of survival. Chemoradiation also shows improved results compared with chemotherapy alone. In patients amenable to radical surgery, adjuvant post-operative treatment with chemoradiation gave superior results over surgery alone with a doubling of median survival and a significant improvement of a two-year survival rate (42% versus 15%). Intra-operative radiation therapy leads to better local control but without a significant improvement in survival. With a better understanding of radio-chemotherapy interactions and mechanisms of radiosensitization through continuous infusion of fluorouracil and/or cisplatinum, these encouraging results should be confirmed within the next few years.