title: [Current state and possibilities of radiotherapy in the inter- disciplinary treatment of malignancies of the stomach, pancreas and biliary tract. II. Pancreatic cancer].
abstract: The extremely unfavorable prognosis of the carcinoma of the pancreas is due to the fact that a curative operation - even by ultraradical surgery - is already impossible in 75 to 90% of patients at the moment of diagnosis. Contrary to expectation this situation has not been essentially improved by the introduction of modern, non-invasive examination methods such as ultrasound and computed tomography. Thus medical science is confronted again with the task of searching for operation modalities, especially for patients whose tumors are curatively inoperable but still restricted to the pancreatic region. Today the efficacy of radiotherapy can be considered to be proved also with respect to the carcinoma of the pancreas. The available results seem to indicate that the effect of radiotherapy depends on the dose and that the combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy is more efficient than radiotherapy alone. It is not known yet if the effect of additional chemotherapy is only of a locally adjuvant or also of a systemic nature. Similarly to the carcinoma of the stomach, direct intraoperative irradiation - alone or combined to percutaneous irradiation - brings about the greatest effect. The authors present the surgical, radiotherapeutic, and chemotherapeutic results achieved hitherto in the treatment of the locally advanced carcinoma of the pancreas. Further possibilities for the future use of radiotherapy are proposed in order to encourage the establishment and application of interdisciplinary therapy conceptions.
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D001918:Brachytherapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D013997:Time Factors
vernacular_title: Gegenwärtiger Stand und Möglichkeiten der Strahlentherapie bei der interdisziplinären Behandlung der Malignome des Magens, des Pankreas und der Gallenwege. II. Pankreaskarzinom.