Intra-Arterial Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

At the 14th International Congress on Anti-Cancer Treatment (ICACT) earlier this week, Dr Mauro Pagani and his colleagues from the Asola Hospital in Verona, Italy reported that injection of adjuvant chemotherapy into the celiac artery may extend overall survival and reduce hepatic relapses in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer.

Most patients with pancreatic cancer have locoregional recurrence and metastases to the liver soon after surgery. Although the role of adjuvant chemotherapy is unclear, the researchers hypothesized that locoregional chemotherapy may reduce relapses of the disease in the abdomen.

The study involved 28 patients who had had pancreatic adenocarcinoma radically resected. Most of the patients had post operative tumour stage III. The average tumour size was 3cm. On day 1, 22 and 43 the patients received interarterial chemotherapy with folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin and carboplatin administered through a catheter. Patients received an average of 2.8 treatment cycles.

The median survival was 22.2 months and median disease-free survival was 13 months. Toxicity was mild with grade 2 anaemia occurring in 4 patients.

Researchers concluded that this approach demonstrated promising results with very mild toxicity, along with good patient compliance.

(Source: Doctor’s Guide Online)