Postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy can improve the survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients

Radical surgical resection is currently the only way to cure pancreatic cancer. However, since the pancreas is surrounded by many important organs, such as the stomach, duodenum, small intestine, liver, kidney, and spinal cord, the thoroughness of surgical treatment is limited. In particular, the pancreas is adjacent to the retroperitoneal structure, and the scope of resection is severely limited.

Clinical scholars have reported the surgical resection of 72 patients with pancreatic cancer, of which about 51% had residual margins, of which the most common was the peripancreatic soft tissue margin, followed by the pancreatic margin and the end of the common bile duct. According to literature data, the local recurrence of pancreatic cancer treated with simple surgical resection can be as high as 50% to 80%. Therefore, the purpose of adjuvant radiotherapy after surgery for pancreatic cancer patients is to eliminate residual tumors through moderate doses of irradiation in order to improve local control rate and survival rate. However, it should be noted that the efficacy of postoperative radiotherapy alone is not obvious. Randomized or non-randomized studies have shown that the combined treatment of radiotherapy and 5-FU can improve the median survival and 2-year survival rate of radical resection of pancreatic cancer.

In addition, since radiotherapy and chemotherapy have different degrees of toxic side effects, postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy are mainly suitable for patients who have a smooth postoperative recovery and are in good general condition. This treatment method has a definite effect on patients with a primary lesion diameter ≥ 3 cm, negative resection margins, and lymph node metastasis, but the effect on patients with positive resection margins needs further confirmation.