[Chemotherapy of cancer of the exocrine pancreas]

Most pancreatic cancers cannot be resected at the time of diagnosis. The efficiency of chemotherapy is poor and does not seem to modify the spontaneous evolution of the tumor. 5FU alone, whatever the regimen, is the most active drug leading to a response rate of 20-30%; polychemotherapy protocols--particularly FAM and SMF--are not any more active; survival of patients does not differ when using mono- or polychemotherapy. Patients with pancreatic cancer that cannot be resected should be treated by 5FU monochemotherapy when not entering a clinical trial.