[Pancreatic cancer: what is new in 2005?]

During the year 2005, many publications were presented about pancreatic tumours concerning the palliative treatment of advanced adenocarcinoma, perioperative strategies (i.e., adjuvant and neoadjuvant), and genetic or environmental factors that predispose to this cancer. Several valuable first lines of chemotherapy for unresectable cancers will be soon available, in view of promising results of biotherapies (i.e., erlotinib) or capecitabine combined with gemcitabine. Perioperative treatments may provide additional chances to cure the disease or to delay the tumor relapse. In addition, it should allow to better select the patients for a surgical resection (neoadjuvant strategy). About basic research, new developments of proteomic and pharmacogenomic are promising. Early detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in high-risk patients (about 10% of pancreatic adenocarcinomas), although delicate to perform, may become soon a reality in our practice. The deleterious role of tobacco consumption and way of feeding has been confirmed by several communications this year.