Pancreatic cancer: today's frontier.
The Present State The incidence of cancer of the pancreas in the U.S. is increasing. The diagnosis can be made preoperatively with increasing precision. Resection can be accomplished with a mortality rate now reduced below 5%. Long-term survival remains low--about 5%. The Present Frontier Having accomplished the technical improvements in the safety of resection, the immediate frontier is the evaluation of combined modalities: resection, irradiation and chemotherapy as definitive, primary (intraoperative) treatment. The adjunctive use of intraoperative irradiation promises to extend the practicality of resection to numerous patients previously deemed unresectable.
Howard
J M
JM
D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*