Adjuvant Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer
One Small Step Forward
- Al B. Benson III, MD
- Author Affiliations: Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill.
- Corresponding Author: Al B. Benson III, MD, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Northwestern University, 676 N St Clair St, Suite 850, Chicago, IL 60611 (a-benson{at}northwestern.edu).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
The great tragedy facing the majority of patients with newly diagnosed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is the persistent high rate of lethality:most newly diagnosed individuals will die within a year.1 Approximately 20% of patients are considered for surgical therapy; however, only about half of these individuals undergo successful resections.2-4 Surgery remains the only opportunity for cure and can be performed with significant reduction in rates of operative morbidity and mortality, particularly at experienced high-volume centers.5 Use of neoadjuvant strategies in the preoperative setting to improve surgical resectability remain experimental. Adjuvant therapy for the postoperative pancreatic cancer patient has been a highly controversial topic with some strong differences in opinions about the use of adjuvant radiation, chemotherapy, or combined chemoradiation, particularly between investigators in the United States and Europe.6-7
In this issue of JAMA, Oettle et al present the results of CONKO-001, …
