Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma accounts for more than 90% of all pancreatic cancers and its incidence has increased significantly worldwide.Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma have a poor outcome and more...Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma accounts for more than 90% of all pancreatic cancers and its incidence has increased significantly worldwide.Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma have a poor outcome and more than 95% of the people affected die from the disease within 12 mo after diagnosis.Surgery is the first-line treatment in the case of resectable neoplasm,but only 20% of patients are candidates for this approach.One of the reasons there are few candidates for surgery is that,during the early phases of the disease,the symptoms are poor or non-specific.Early diagnosis is of crucial importance to improve patient outcome;therefore,we are looking for a good screening test.The screening test must identify the disease in an early stage in order to be effective;having said this,a need exists to introduce the concept of "early" ductal adenocarcinoma.It has been reported that at least five additional years after the occurrence of the initiating mutation are required for the acquisition of metastatic ability of pancreatic adenocarcinoma and patients die an average of two years thereafter.We have reviewed the most recent literature in order to evaluate the present and future perspectives of screening programs of this deadly disease.展开更多
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is an aggressive and devastating disease associated with poor survival outcomes. Even though signifcant advances have been made towards understanding the intricate pathology of this ca...Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is an aggressive and devastating disease associated with poor survival outcomes. Even though signifcant advances have been made towards understanding the intricate pathology of this cancer, several important aspects remain unknown. Recently, key genetic mutations within the tumour have been identified, but the exact role they play in tumourigenesis has yet to be determined.For many years, the micro-tumour environment and stroma was thought to aid proliferation but there is now emerging research that suggests the contrary. Several novel targeted agents in pre-clinical and early clinical studies have been promising but it remains to be seen whether they will have a signifcant impact on patient outcomes. In this review we discuss the unique nature of pancreatic cancer biology, current treatment options and summarise the latest results from pre-clinical and clinical research. We also discuss the future strategies that are needed to improve outcomes for this disease.展开更多
文摘Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma accounts for more than 90% of all pancreatic cancers and its incidence has increased significantly worldwide.Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma have a poor outcome and more than 95% of the people affected die from the disease within 12 mo after diagnosis.Surgery is the first-line treatment in the case of resectable neoplasm,but only 20% of patients are candidates for this approach.One of the reasons there are few candidates for surgery is that,during the early phases of the disease,the symptoms are poor or non-specific.Early diagnosis is of crucial importance to improve patient outcome;therefore,we are looking for a good screening test.The screening test must identify the disease in an early stage in order to be effective;having said this,a need exists to introduce the concept of "early" ductal adenocarcinoma.It has been reported that at least five additional years after the occurrence of the initiating mutation are required for the acquisition of metastatic ability of pancreatic adenocarcinoma and patients die an average of two years thereafter.We have reviewed the most recent literature in order to evaluate the present and future perspectives of screening programs of this deadly disease.
文摘Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is an aggressive and devastating disease associated with poor survival outcomes. Even though signifcant advances have been made towards understanding the intricate pathology of this cancer, several important aspects remain unknown. Recently, key genetic mutations within the tumour have been identified, but the exact role they play in tumourigenesis has yet to be determined.For many years, the micro-tumour environment and stroma was thought to aid proliferation but there is now emerging research that suggests the contrary. Several novel targeted agents in pre-clinical and early clinical studies have been promising but it remains to be seen whether they will have a signifcant impact on patient outcomes. In this review we discuss the unique nature of pancreatic cancer biology, current treatment options and summarise the latest results from pre-clinical and clinical research. We also discuss the future strategies that are needed to improve outcomes for this disease.