[Multidisciplinary treatment of cancer of the pancreas]

During the past 18 and a half years, 285 patients with cancer of the pancreas have been treated in our hospital. By means of en-bloc resection of the lesion with the portal vein and/or hepatic artery, the resectable rate of cancer of the head of the pancreas was improved to 53% (1979-1983) from 22% (1966-1978). Postoperative deaths within 30 days after pancreatectomy were 9.8%. The five years survival rate in those with Stage I and II was 28.7%, but that with Stage III and IV was 15.2%. Intraoperative and/or external radiation therapy was adopted on 16 patients, in some of whom hyperthermia was further combined. As a result, remarkable effects on performance status were obtained. Intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy using a transfemorally implanted catheter was performed on ten patients with unresectable lesions, the median survival of whom was however, only four and a half months.