Talking about pancreatic cancer treatment

  Multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment collaborative team (MDT) that includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, endocrine therapy, biologically targeted therapy and other interdisciplinary unity and collaboration, they sit together to provide reasonable diagnosis and treatment plan for patients.  The MDT team of pancreatic cancer is composed of experts from different departments. Doctors from different departments and levels perform their respective duties, hold MDT symposiums regularly to discuss difficult cases, improve the level of treatment, and develop individualized and optimal treatment plans for patients in strict accordance with the corresponding clinical treatment guidelines. When a patient is first seen in the abdominal surgery department, the attending physician will select the most economical and effective examination for the patient to clarify the diagnosis and guide the patient to receive surgery or neoadjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy according to the condition. In case of difficult cases, the surgeon will contact all relevant departments for consultation to simplify the patient’s medical procedure and shorten the time from the first consultation to treatment. After surgery, the MDT team will develop individualized and optimal adjuvant treatment plans for patients in strict accordance with the corresponding clinical treatment guidelines, and patients can receive long-term follow-up and guidance at the specialist or specialized clinics.  Pancreatic cancer has the lowest overall survival rate (5-year survival rate <5%) among all solid tumors and is known as the king of cancers. The latest epidemiological findings show that its incidence has been on a continuous rise in recent years. The American Society of Oncology predicts that pancreatic cancer will rise to the second leading cause of death among all cancers by 2030. Unfortunately, despite the fact that most patients with malignancies have achieved long-term survival due to the availability of new drugs and improvements in treatment modalities, the current outcome of pancreatic cancer remains very poor. Although radical surgery is the best and only option to prolong the survival of pancreatic cancer patients, only 15% of pancreatic cancer patients are able to undergo radical surgery, and more than 60% of patients will develop local recurrence or distant metastases 2 years after surgery. Therefore, it is extremely important to improve the rate of early diagnosis and surgical resection of pancreatic cancer. As early as 1983, the National Cancer Center of the United States began to explore the model of multidisciplinary and comprehensive treatment for pancreatic cancer. After more than 20 years of development, MDT has developed into the most appropriate treatment model for mid- to late-stage pancreatic cancer and has become an important model of oncology treatment in large hospitals abroad. This multidisciplinary collaborative group model will fully and rationally utilize the available resources to maximize the benefits of patients and provide "planned, step-by-step, individualized and orderly treatment" for patients.  During the diagnosis, attention should be paid to differentiate the disease from benign diseases such as pancreatitis, for example, IgG4 can help identify autoimmune pancreatitis (+). Once the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is confirmed, R0 surgical resection should be pursued, prior to which necessary neoadjuvant chemotherapy can be given, among which FOLFIRINOX (i.e., the commonly known 4-drug combination regimen: oxaliplatin oxaliplatin + fluorouracil fluorouracil + leucovorin folinic acid + Irinotecan irinotecan) and Gemcitabine Gemcitabine in combination with nab-paclitaxel albumin-bound paclitaxel may be an optional chemotherapy regimen.  Whippleprocedure, also known as pancreaticoduodenectomy, is a common procedure used to treat cancer of the head of the pancreas. The procedure includes the removal of the entire head of pancreas, distal stomach, duodenum, gallbladder, distal common bile duct, proximal jejunum and focal lymph nodes, followed by pancreatic-jejunostomy, jejuno-jejunostomy and gastrojejunostomy. And minimally invasive surgical approaches such as radiofrequency ablation are still gaining acceptance.  Chemotherapy is the choice for most patients with intermediate to advanced pancreatic cancer, and even for early stage patients with surgical resection, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy has become routine. the dominance of Gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer chemotherapy remains unshakable, and pancreatic cancer chemotherapy is mainly referred to 5 sets of regimens: (1) single-agent Gemcitabine; (2) FOLFIRINOX (i.e., the 4-drug combination regimen often referred to as oxaliplatin+fluorouracil+leucovorin+Irinotecan); (3) Gemcitabine combined with nab-paclitaxel; (4) Gemcitabine combined with S1; and (5) Gemcitabine combined with erlotinib. FOLFIRINOX and "Gemcitabine combined with nab-paclitaxel" regimens are considered to be the two most efficacious regimens: compared to Gemcitabine alone, they can increase the life expectancy of advanced patients by 3-6 months. Considering the physical condition and sensitivity of the Chinese population, the "Gemcitabine in combination with nab-paclitaxel" regimen is more often used with relatively low toxicity.  Recently, the U.S. FDA announced the granting of orphan drug status to a novel antitumor candidate, necuparanib (M402), for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. This means that the FDA has given necuparanib a "green lane" for approval due to significant efficacy in Phase I/II clinical trials, in the hope that this uniquely advantageous drug can be used quickly in the clinic. necuparanib is derived from generic heparin and has been designed to significantly reduce anticoagulant activity while retaining relevant antitumor properties. while retaining the associated antitumor properties.  Radiotherapy, especially IMRT, can temporarily inhibit the proliferation of advanced pancreatic cancer tumor cells and alleviate symptoms; its use as preoperative and postoperative radiotherapy is also gaining attention. There is still a need to study the efficacy of concurrent radiotherapy-related drugs. Other therapies such as immunotherapy, endocrine therapy, allopathic treatment and Chinese herbal medicine can also be effective in prolonging life span and reducing pain.