Aggressive therapy for cancer of the pancreas. Does it help?

Aggressive therapy clearly plays a role in the management of pancreatic cancer, be it localized to that organ, limited to the upper abdomen, or metastatic. A significant percentage of patients with resectable disease can be salvaged by radical resection of the cancer and aggressive adjuvant therapies. Five-year survival rates exceeding 30% have been reported from Japan. A supportive-care-only treatment philosophy ensures that almost all patients will die of cancer and that new treatment regimens will not be evaluated, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Such a policy is no longer tenable.