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Treatment Options for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
Source: Pancreatic Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version, National Cancer Institute.
Source updated: February 12, 2025 · Captured 2026-09-09.
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Context: Treatment of Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
While locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer are both incurable, their natural histories may be different. An autopsy series demonstrated that 30% of patients presenting with locally advanced disease died without evidence of distant metastases.[1][Level of evidence A1] Therefore, investigators have struggled to determine whether chemoradiation therapy for patients presenting with locally advanced disease is warranted.
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Treatment options for locally advanced pancreatic cancer include:
Chemotherapy with or without targeted therapy.
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Chemoradiation therapy: Chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation for patients without metastatic disease.
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Surgery: Radical pancreatic resection.
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Palliative surgery: Palliative surgical biliary and/or gastric bypass, percutaneous radiologic biliary stent placement, or endoscopic biliary stent placement.[2,3]
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Clinical trials evaluating novel agents in combination with chemotherapy or chemoradiation therapy for patients with unresectable tumors.
Intraoperative radiation therapy and/or implantation of radioactive sources (under clinical evaluation).[4,5]
Palliative therapies can be considered in patients with any stage of disease. For more information, see the Palliative Therapy section.
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Preserved source evidence · Not medical advice