Since October 1991, a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, pathologists, medical oncologists, and radiation therapists has at Johns Hopkins evaluated all patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas post-pancreaticoduodenectomy and recommended adjuvant combined modality chemoradiation therapy, based on data from the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group. The adjuvant therapy used in these patients combines external beam radiotherapy to the tumor bed and adjacent tissues (> 45 Gy) delivered over the course of five to six weeks, with 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy given concurrently during the radiotherapy and for four months after the conclusion of the radiotherapy. Of 78 patients evaluated since October 1991, 56 patients elected adjuvant therapy, and 22 declined the therapy. The early outcome results comparing these two groups demonstrate a significant outcome difference, with a median survival of 20 months and an actuarial two-year survival of 35% in the group receiving adjuvant therapy, compared with the median survival of 12 months and an actuarial two-year survival of 0% in the group receiving no therapy.

To learn more about Radiation Therapy please contact Dr. Joseph Herman at: JHerma15@jhmi.edu or Office: 410-502-3823