Role of adjuvant chemo radiation in therapeutic management of pancreatic adenocarcinoma

The prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma remains poor, with a 5-year survival rate lower than 5 %. Resection, the gold standard treatment, can be performed in less than 10 % of patients. Following surgery,the median survival is 12 months for the most favorable patients. Concomitant chemo-radiation, as an adjuvant treatment is superior to surgery alone, in terms of survival, controlled trials are currently performed. Neo adjuvant chemo-radiation is a new approach, potentially able to increase survival and resection rate. This work justifies the role of these schemes, in terms of modalities and potential advantages. (authors)