A Randomized Trial of Chemoradiotherapy and Chemotherapy after Resection of Pancreatic Cancer

This randomized trial of adjuvant therapy after resection of pancreatic cancer found a significant survival benefit for chemotherapy with fluorouracil. Chemoradiotherapy alone or followed by chemotherapy was not beneficial and even appeared to shorten survival. Chemoradiotherapy was not beneficial and even appeared to shorten survival. Pancreatic cancer, with an overall five-year survival rate ranging from 0.4 percent 1 to 4 percent, 2 has a poor prognosis and is one of the top 10 causes of death from cancer in the Western world. 3 , 4 Surgical resection improves the outlook, although only about 10 percent of patients with pancreatic cancer are eligible for the procedure. 5 – 9 Most treatment failures are due to local recurrence, hepatic metastases, or both and occur within one to two years after surgery. 10 – 12 Adjuvant (postoperative) therapy may improve long-term survival, 7 – 9 , 13 _ 16 but its routine use is not universal 8 because the results of . . .