title: Radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer: eleven year experience at the JCRT.
abstract: Radiation therapy (XRT) for 41 patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer resulted in a median survival of 7.0 months. There was no difference in median survival for patients receiving external beam alone (3500 to 5600 cGy) (n = 28), intraoperative (IORT) boost plus external beam (5040 to 6750 cGy) (n = 9), or a gold-198 implant +/- external beam radiation (n = 4). A pilot study using orthovoltage IORT boost indicates no acute toxicity with doses of 1250 to 1750 cGy. Serious late damage has not been observed in any patients followed to 2 years. Local recurrence in patients treated post-operatively after "radical" surgery occurred in one of 10 (10%). This adjuvant treatment is safe and appears to improve local control rates compared to historical data, but survival is still poor. The median survival for the post-operative group is 10 months; three patients are alive without disease 8 months to 8.3 years after treatment.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Rich
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000532:radiotherapy; D007516:Adenoma, Islet Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000209:etiology; D014965:X-Rays