Iodine-125 implant and external beam irradiation in patients with localized pancreatic carcinoma: a comparative study to surgical resection.

Twelve patients with biopsy-proven clinically localized ductal pancreatic cancers (less than 7 cm in greatest diameter) judged unsuitable for resection were treated by bypass surgery, an Iodine-125 implant (20-39 mCi), and postoperative irradiation (4000-4500 rads). The potential problems of significant bleeding, pancreatic fistula, or pancreatitis were not experienced. A local recurrence developed in one patient and two recurred in regional lymph nodes. The projected median survival of the group is 11 months with four of the 12 patients still surviving. For purposes of comparison all patients with pancreatic ductal carcinoma treated by radical resection during a similar time were evaluated. All ten have died with a median survival of six months. Twelve of 22 (55%) of the combined implanted and resected groups have developed distant metastasis. Further pursuit of intraoperative techniques of irradiation in combination with adjuvant multidrug chemotherapy seems indicated in an attempt to prolong patient survival which is now limited by hematogenous metastases.