Zeitschrift für klinische und experimentelle Onkologie

Combinational Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer: Where Are We Standing?

Andrew M. Albrecht, Jingxuan Yang and Min Li

Combinational Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer: Where Are We Standing?

Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of all cancers, with an incredibly poor prognosis, aggressive metastasis, and limited choice of therapy. Of the estimated 43,920 new cases of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in 2012, only 5.8% are likely to survive beyond 5 years. Currently, surgical resection is the only effective treatment for this devastating disease. However, only around 15% of the patient population is eligible for surgery as most cases are diagnosed at a late stage when surgery is no longer an option. Even for resectable pancreatic cancer, the majority of patients are likely to relapse.