LATEST INFORMATION ABOUT NEOADJUVANT TREATMENT OF RESECTABLE PANCREATIC CANCER-A NEW TREND COMPLETE
Pancreatic cancer is projected to become the most common cause of cancer death in the United States in the coming decades as lung cancer deaths continue to drop, said Margaret Tempero, MD, a medical oncologist from the University of California San Francisco. Citing statistics from the American Cancer Society, Dr Tempero also observed that in 2016, there were more deaths from pancreatic cancer than breast cancer. Speaking here at the annual meeting of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 22nd Annual Conference, she recited more sobering statistics about this highly lethal cancer: Eighty percent of patients are diagnosed with advanced unresectable disease, and, of the minority who can be resected, 80% will relapse after adjuvant drug therapy. "This is a very tough disease!" she exclaimed. One of the efforts to improve outcomes in the treatment of pancreatic cancer is the relatively "new trend" of using neoadjuvant therapy in patients who have resectable di