Chemoradiation in pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a literature review

Adenocarcinoma of the exocrine pancreas has an annual incidence of 7,400 cases in the U.K. In comparison with other common cancers of solid organs, namely, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer has a high morbidity and mortality. Radical resection is possible in only 15%-20% of patients, and only 3%-4% of all patients presenting with this condition achieve long-term control and cure. Various strategies in the form of neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment have been employed over the years to improve outcome, with limited success. Systemic chemotherapy remains the gold standard in the metastatic setting in good performance status patients, and adjuvant chemotherapy after resection of localized and locally advanced cancer has been found to improve outcome. The role of radiotherapy, however, remains controversial and is an area that merits further investigation in well-conducted multicenter trials at various stages of the disease in combination with systemic agents and exploiting recent advances in the delivery of radiotherapy. In this article, we review the published literature on the use of chemoradiation as a modality in various stages of pancreatic adenocarcinoma and highlight areas that future trials in this field should target for a way forward in this malignancy.