Publish date: 15 December 2022

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The pancreas is shown in red

New research by a team in Liverpool has shown new ways to improve the survival outcomes of pancreatic cancer patients.

Treating pancreatic cancer patients with chemotherapy before surgery significantly improved one year survival rates compared to patients having immediate surgery, a randomised clinical trial has found.

Published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, the study was led by the University of Liverpool on behalf of the European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC) and supported by Cancer Research UK.

Around 10,500 people a year in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but it has the lowest cancer survival rate with around 9,000 dying every year.

Pancreatic cancer is a challenging cancer to treat, with surgery being the preferred treatment. When the cancer involves the local blood vessels (known as ‘borderline resectable’ cancer) the possibility of surgical removal is less than 50% and the outcomes are poor. However, the use of chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy before attempting surgery (neoadjuvant therapy) may increase the possibility of surgical removal and improve survival.

For more information on this, see: https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2022/12/12/chemotherapy-before-surgery-can-improve-survival-rates-in-pancreatic-cancer-patients/