In patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with improved overall survival and a lower rate of lymph node positivity compared with adjuvant treatment, according to a retrospective analysis of 877 patients in the California Cancer Surveillance Program. Because of the potential benefits of a neoadjuvant strategy—early treatment of micrometastatic disease, delivery of therapy to a well-vascularized primary tumor, a higher likelihood of completing therapy, and the identification of patients who are unlikely to benefit from surgery—the researchers concluded that neoadjuvant chemotherapy “should be considered a reasonable alternative to upfront surgery and warrants broader application.”
The complete study is published in the May 15 edition of Cancer (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.25763/abstract;jsessionid=D54482FAB6E5169124794FDCAF57C0B1.d01t02?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+21+May+from+10-12+BST+for+monthly+maintenance).