Comparing Chemotherapy Before with Chemotherapy After Pancreatic Cancer Surgery

In the quest to stop pancreatic cancer from spreading, is chemotherapy before surgery more effective than chemotherapy after surgery?

Most oncologists agree that chemotherapy is the appropriate treatment to optimize outcomes in pancreatic cancer. But for those patients who are good candidates for surgery, when should chemotherapy start?

Starting treatment before surgery could help reduce the tumor’s size, making the surgery more effective. On the other hand, if the cancer continues to grow during chemotherapy, that could eliminate surgery as an option. This phase III trial seeks to provide data on which approach is more effective at stopping the growth of pancreatic cancer.

Which Option Works Best?

This phase III trial will assess whether giving chemotherapy before (neoadjuvant treatment) and after surgery works better in treating patients with pancreatic cancer compared to giving chemotherapy only after surgery (adjuvant treatment).

Participants will be divided into two groups. One group will receive mFOLFIRINOX before and after surgery; the other group will receive mFOLFIRINOX after surgery.

Researchers are looking for two-year overall survival, as well as disease-free survival, tolerability of chemotherapy, and health-related quality of life.

In the Trial

To participate in this trial, patients must have pancreatic cancer that is surgically removable, and must not have undergone prior treatment.

We encourage you to consult your physicians for clinical trials that may be right for you. The website ClinicalTrials.gov provides more details about this trial as well as many others. You can visit the EmergingMed Trial Finder for a list of all active pancreatic cancer clinical trials.

What new treatments and clinical trials are available to me?

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