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Three cases of locally advanced pancreatic cancer successfully treated with chemoradiation and chemotherapy

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Abstract

We report three cases with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer (PC) treated with a combination of chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and systemic chemotherapy, using gemcitabine (GEM) and/or S-1. All three cases were diagnosed as having locally advanced unresectable PC without distant metastatic lesions based on computed tomography, endoscopic retrograde pancreatography and/or blushing cytology. In Cases 1 and 2, we applied a so-called sandwich therapy, which consisted of induction chemotherapy before CRT and maintenance chemotherapy after CRT. The induction and maintenance chemotherapy in Cases 1 and 2 used a combination of GEM and S-1, whereas maintenance therapy with GEM or S-1 was applied in Case 3. S-1-based CRT was performed in Cases 1 and 2, and GEM-based CRT in Case 3. Survivals were 27 and 65 months, respectively, in two cases, and the disease remained stable in the other case 30 months after diagnosis. We show three cases with unresectable locally advanced PC who achieved long-term survival (27–65 months) after treatment with a combination of CRT and systemic chemotherapy, using GEM and/or S-1. Our findings indicate that sandwich therapy might be particularly effective for locally advanced PC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Third Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, 807-8555, Japan

    Masashi Taguchi, Yoshikuni Nagashio, Yasuyuki Kihara, Masaaki Hiura, Shintaro Abe, Mitsuyoshi Yamamoto & Masaru Harada

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  1. Masashi Taguchi
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  2. Yoshikuni Nagashio
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  3. Yasuyuki Kihara
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  4. Masaaki Hiura
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  5. Shintaro Abe
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  6. Mitsuyoshi Yamamoto
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  7. Masaru Harada
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Correspondence to Masashi Taguchi.

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Taguchi, M., Nagashio, Y., Kihara, Y. et al. Three cases of locally advanced pancreatic cancer successfully treated with chemoradiation and chemotherapy. Clin J Gastroenterol 3, 186–190 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-010-0157-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-010-0157-x

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