Postoperative chemoradiotherapy may significantly improve survival for patients with pancreatic cancer, according to an article in the August issue of the British Journal of Cancer.

“This study built on previous research that showed that the use of a particular chemotherapy agent (gemcitabine) plus radiation therapy might improve survival rates for patients with this devastating cancer,” said A. William Blackstock, MD, lead investigator of the study.

The study evaluated postoperative treatment involving the combination of six weeks of daily radiation therapy to the upper abdomen concurrent with twice-weekly doses of gemcitabine, followed by two cycles of maintenance dose gemcitabine.

Between June 1999 and October 2003, 46 patients were evaluated. The majority (70 percent) had advanced pancreatic cancer (T3/ T4) with involvement of lymph nodes.

Median survival for all patients was 18.3 months compared with an average of 11 months for surgery alone. One-year survival was 69 percent and three-year survival was 24 percent.

“The results of our study are promising because they may reflect not only longer survival of these patients, but also an improved local-regional control of the disease. In addition, because lower doses of gemcitabine were used, it proved to be a less toxic approach to treatment,” said Blackstock.