Continued progress in pancreatic cancer after resection

Pancreatic cancer has been a very difficult cancer to treat and cure. Unfortunately, most pancreatic tumors have already spread at time of diagnosis, but even those found early that can be resected have a high risk of coming back. Therefore, chemotherapy after surgery (called “adjuvant therapy”) is the standard of care to help prevent the cancer from coming back. A recent trial showed that treating with two chemotherapy drugs together (gemcitabine and capecitabine) after surgery allows patients to live significantly longer with higher cure rates than treating with only one chemotherapy drug. Overall, the regimen was tolerated well with similar quality of life between the two groups. This is changing the way we approach and treat pancreatic cancer after curative resection. Read more here.