NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THERAPEUTIC ONCOLOGY - PANCREATIC-CARCINOMA - ROLE OF CHEMOTHERAPY

Pancreatic carcinoma is a nosological entity in which clinical investi gators are ever more interested for two main reasons: i) the incidence rate which identifies pancreatic carcinoma as a major killer among ne oplastic diseases as a consequence of a lack of clinical progress over the past several years, and ii) new opportunities offered by the avai lability of new drugs potentially active in this disease and the impro ving of technology which permits new strategies in local treatment of inoperable disease. The latest data are here evaluated according to th e main therapeutic aspects: 1) regimens, containing 5-fluorouracil, 2) regimens without 5-fluorouracil, 3) treatments with gemcitabine, 4) r adio-chemotherapeutic combinating approaches, and 5) locoregional arte rial chemotherapies. Up to now radio-chemotherapy seems to offer the m ajor probabilities of local control, and gemcitabine containing regime ns seem to be the best systemic treatment if pain control is the major objective of the treatment of inoperable disease. Locoregional chemot herapy, which is an interesting approach, should be further explored t o confirm promising preliminary results.