Will gemcitabine monotherapy be dethroned as the adjuvant chemotherapy in pancreatic adenocarcinoma?

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most aggressive and belligerent solid tumors. More than 80% of patients are diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic disease; wherein only 15–20% of these cancers beneficiate from frontline surgery for localized malignancies. In all-stage PC, the median overall survival (OS) is less than 6 months, and less than 5% of patients survive more than 5 years (2% in cases of metastatic PC). Moreover, only 30% of patients with localized disease treated by surgery remain alive for 5 years [1,2]. Because of the poor prognosis of this tumor, adjuvant treatment, namely, chemotherapy-based treatment, is unavoidable to enhance the survival outcomes in these patients.

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