Stereotactic radiosurgery for unresectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas: Initial experience at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore

Abstract

Adenocarcinoma of the pancreas remains among the most lethal cancers in the United States. For most of the past four decades, little has changed in the treatment and poor survival associated with this tumor [1]. Surgery is still the only treatment associated with cure, though most patients have unresectable disease at diagnosis. Even in favorable, resectable disease, median survival is only 15-24 months [2, 3], with 15-20% long-term survival. Aggressive chemo-radiotherapy trials have demonstrated only marginal improvements in overall survival, rarely with long-term survival. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.