Treatment of pancreatic cancer

  Pancreatic cancer remains the most difficult of all digestive tract tumors to treat, and as the fourth leading cause of malignant death in both men and women, it poses a serious risk to human health. About 200,000 cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed worldwide each year, and the mortality rate is almost equal to the morbidity. The overall 5-year survival rate is only 1% to 4%, and the 5-year survival rate for radical resection is only 10% to 20%.  Surgical resection is still the main treatment for pancreatic cancer, but due to the deep anatomical location of pancreatic cancer and non-specific clinical manifestations, patients are mostly in the middle and late stages when they are seen, and the surgical resection rate is only about 20%. Foreign studies have shown that when the diameter of pancreatic cancer is <1 am, the lesion is mainly confined to the ductal endothelium, and the 5-year survival rate after radical surgery is 100%; therefore, early detection of resectable pancreatic cancer is the most effective way to improve the long-term survival rate of pancreatic cancer.  The preoperative resectability of pancreatic cancer is judged by the following criteria: (1) the tumor is confined to the pancreas or there is only local infiltration of adjacent organs such as the common bile duct, duodenum, stomach, spleen and other organs that can be jointly resected; (2) the relationship between the tumor and adjacent vessels is compression, contact or invasion less than 1/3 of the circumference of the vessels, and there is no obvious unresectable lymph node metastasis; (3) there is no distant metastasis of the organs, peritoneum or omentum.  The main reasons for unresectable cancer are: invasion of superior mesenteric vein and/or portal vein, liver metastasis, extensive metastasis, moderate or above ascites, invasion of vena cava, invasion of celiac artery, middle colonic artery, abdominal aorta, etc., and extensive adhesions in the abdominal cavity.  Pancreatic cancer is one of the common malignant tumors with very poor prognosis. In order to improve clinical efficacy and long-term outcome, the current academic community believes that the way out is to actively carry out comprehensive treatment. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical guidelines for pancreatic cancer treatment recommend treatment of pancreatic cancer including neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in addition to surgical resection.