Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
    • Podcast
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
    • Podcast
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Evaluating Perioperative Chemotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer
Clinical Breakthroughs

Evaluating Perioperative Chemotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer

By Melissa RohmanFeb 26, 2021
Share
Facebook Twitter Email
James Wade, III, MD, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, was a co-author of the clinical trial published in JAMA Oncology.

Perioperative chemotherapy did not improve overall survival for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer, according to a recent Northwestern Medicine clinical trial published in JAMA Oncology.

While better systemic treatments are still needed for patients, the preoperative approach used in the current trial may help guide future testing of other treatment strategies, according to James Wade, III, MD, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and a co-author of the study.

Over the last several decades the incidence of pancreatic cancer has increased, with more than 60,000 cases estimated to be diagnosed this year alone. While the overall long-term survival rate is less than 10 percent, that milestone is more likely if patients receive a pancreatectomy, the surgical removal of some or all of the pancreas. However, less than half of patients are candidates for this procedure, according to Wade.

In the current multi-institutional clinical trial, investigators enrolled patients between the ages of 18 and 75 years with localized pancreatic cancer who were eligible for a pancreatectomy. Patients were randomized to receive one of two chemotherapy regimens — fluorouracil, irinotecan and oxaliplatin, or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel— for 12 weeks before surgery and 12 weeks after surgery.

“The design was to ‘pick the winner’ of the two chemotherapy regimens for future clinical trial designs, with an overall two-year survival goal of 58 percent for each treatment group,” Wade said.

Of the total number of eligible participants, 46 percent completed all six cycles of chemotherapy. Overall survival at two years was 47 percent for the fluorouracil, irinotecan and oxaliplatin group, compared to 48 percent for the gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel group.

Although the trial did not meet the two-year survival target of 58 percent, the trial suggests that either perioperative chemotherapy regimen can be delivered safely and does not interfere with planned surgery, according to the authors.

“Clearly better systemic treatments are needed for pancreatic cancer, but it is now known that the preoperative strategy used in this study can be a model for testing future regimens,” Wade said.

This work received support from the National Cancer Institute grants CA180888, CA180819, CA180820, CA180821, CA189830, CA180801, CA189953, CA189957, CA239767, CA189821, CA189972, CA233230, CA189858, CA189958, CA189822, CA189848, CA189971, CA13612, CA189873, CA189856, CA180798, CA189861 and CA189954.

Cancer Medicine Patient Care Research
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Emerging Therapy for Relapsed Lymphoma

Aug 12, 2022

Scientists Identify Key Mechanism Controlling Skin Regeneration

Aug 11, 2022

Scientists Discover Novel Cellular Mechanisms Behind Transcription Elongation

Aug 10, 2022

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Emerging Therapy for Relapsed Lymphoma

Aug 12, 2022

Scientists Identify Key Mechanism Controlling Skin Regeneration

Aug 11, 2022

Scientists Discover Novel Cellular Mechanisms Behind Transcription Elongation

Aug 10, 2022

First-Year Medical Students Celebrate Founders’ Day 2022

Aug 9, 2022

‘Inside Out’ Signaling Promotes Tumor Growth

Aug 5, 2022
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
egn-flickr
Founders' Day 2022_EGN-retouched
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1676
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1206
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1144 (1)
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1133
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1057
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1424
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1472
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1573
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1671
220805_SERIO_MANDELL_FEINBERG_White_Coat_1793

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2022 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.