The Role of Radiation in Pancreatic Cancer

Clinical Pearls

Margaret A. Tempero, MD, director, Pancreas Center, University of California, San Francisco, discusses the role of radiation for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

• Radiation has been traditionally used in the adjuvant setting and in the setting of locally advanced disease
• In an ongoing adjuvant trial, patients are treated after surgery with gemcitabine followed by radiation or observation
• In a completed trial, radiation does not seem to add anything with a gemcitabine-based therapy
• Questions remain regarding the role of radiation with the advent of more effective chemotherapy regimens