Clinical Gastroenterology Vol.28 No.3(6)

Theme Perspective for Chemotherapy in Gastrointestinal Malignancy Based on Current Evidence
Title Trends in Chemotherapy for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
Publish Date 2013/03
Author Masato Ozaka Department of Gastroenterology, Cancer Institute Ariake Hospital
Author Hiroshi Ishii Department of Gastroenterology, Cancer Institute Ariake Hospital
[ Summary ] Pancreatic cancer (PC) remains one of the most aggressive type of tumor. Since 1997, gemcitabine has been widely used as a standard systemic chemotherapeutic agent for advanced PC. Many phase Ⅲ studies of gemcitabine doublets have been uniformly negative, with the exception of a trial of gemcitabine plus erlotinib, which provided only marginal benefit. In 2010, the FOLFIRINOX regimen (bolus and infusional 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, plus oxaliplatin) emerged as a major advance in treatment for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Because higher rates of grade 3 to 4 neurtopenia, febrile neutropenia, and diarrhea are experienced with FOLFIRINOX, it is necessary to evaluate methods to adjust dosage to ameliorate the toxicity of FOLFIRINOX. The development of new treatments, such as GEM+α or FOLFIRINOX+α, are expected to improve of pancreatic cancer prognoses.
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