Results of the two studies, which were supported by the National Institutes of Health, were presented recently at the annual meeting of the Southern Surgical Association and are published in the December issue of Cancer Research. Patients receiving either form of chemoradiation had a median survival rate of 19.5 months compared to 13.5 months for patients foregoing chemoradiation. Median survival rates were 21 months for the standard therapy and 17.5 months for the intensive therapy. The results were independent of tumor size, blood loss during surgery and whether the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes. Early diagnosis, surgery to remove the tumor and postoperative chemoradiation therapy appear to be needed for long-term survival and a potential cure.
Pancreatic cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
In the second study, scientists analyzed tumors and healthy tissue from pancreatic cancer patients and found that 7 percent of the patients had inherited mutations in the BRCA2 gene, which has been linked to breast and ovarian cancer. Scientists also found several new mutations in the gene involved in pancreatic cancer. Despite the large number of inherited mutations, none of the families involved had a history of pancreatic cancer. That may be, in part, because the disease usually strikes late in life and the cancer never developed because the person died of other causes, says Scott E. Kern, M.D., the study's senior author and an assistant professor of oncology. Our results suggest that many people don't think they have a familial susceptibility, but yet they do.