Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for resectable pancreatic cancer: a new standard of care?

Aim. To evaluate the potential of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in resectable pancreatic cancer based on the results of randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses.  

Materials and methods. PubMed, Сochrane, EMBASE, GoogleScholar databases were used for bibliographic search with keywords MESH “neoadjuvanttherapy” in combination with “pancreaticcancer”, “resectable”, “pancreaticoduodenectomy”.  

Results. At the beginning of the 21st century the understanding of pancreatic cancer biology changed. A tumor should be considered a systemic disease even in its early stages, with small size and without lymph node involvement. The necessity for application of neoadjuvant polychemotherapy in patients with resectable tumors is an important issue. The efficacy and safety of the method has been proved. However, a number of questions are still to be answered. Whether neoadjuvant polychemotherapy in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer will be a new achievement of chemotherapy and the standard of care is a matter for future clinical research.  

Conclusion. Neoadjuvant polychemotherapy in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer is a promising therapy that can improve oncological outcomes of treatment. However, the evidence for this argument is currently insufficient. 

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