Combination Chemo & Radiation Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer

Cancer of the pancreas occurs when malignant cells attack the pancreas. Since the pancreas is a gland that performs multiple tasks, such as secreting important hormones and digestive enzymes, cancer of the pancreas can be complicated. This type of cancer also shows almost no symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage, and as a result, treatment is difficult.

Radiation and Chemotherapy

• Radiation is one accepted method of treating pancreatic cancer. Using this method, high-energy radiation in the form of x-rays is given to the patient to kill the malignant cells. This can be administered externally, when these rays are passed into the patient, or internally, when radioactive materials are placed near the affected area. This can destroy cancer cells, but also adjacent healthy cells. Another downside to radiation therapy is that it can cause side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and exhaustion.

  Chemotherapy, on the other hand, is the use of drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells. Here too, drugs can be injected by the vein or muscle, or can be ingested orally. Regional chemotherapy, or the injection of drugs near the pancreas, is also possible in some cases.

  In pancreatic cancer, radiotherapy is less common than chemotherapy for two reasons. First, radiation is better suited to localized cancer, and by the time pancreatic cancer is detected, the cancer has usually begun to spread. In those cases in which the oncologist is convinced that malignancy is well localized, radiation is considered as an alternative. Second, the pancreas is difficult to access due to it's location in the body.

Combination Treatments

• In many cases, radiation and chemotherapy are combined to treat pancreatic cancer. This is done in an attempt to keep the cancer under control as much as possible, and is known as chemoradiation. According to the National Cancer Institute, patients with cancers that may be termed "borderline resectable" are given this combination. This means that there is potential for the cells to be shrunk and for the cancer to become or remain localized, so that surgery, when it is performed, can remove the malignancy altogether.

  Normally, radiotherapy precedes chemotherapy for the simple reason that existing cancer cells have to be first destroyed and stopped from spreading before they can be treated with drugs.

  Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are used together because each has a somewhat different function. Radiotherapy is a targeted therapy, which means it only destroys cancer cells in the area where the radiowaves are administered. Chemotherapy, on the other hand, is a systemic medication. It can destroy cancer cells throughout the entire body. When radiotherapy is used first, it can target cancer cells at the primary site of the cancer. Chemotherapy can then be administered to attempt to eradicate any cancer cells that may linger in the body and/or any microscopic cancer cells that have spread throughout your system away from the pancreas.

Drugs Used

• The common chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer of the pancreas are gemcitabine, fluorouracil, docetaxel, cisplatin and mitomycin or mitomycin C kyowa. Other new generation drugs include capecitabine, oxaliplatin and irinotecan, and are shown to be highly promising in producing better results.