In patients not suitable for resection with curative intent, palliative chemotherapy may be used to improve quality of life and gain a modest survival benefit from Pancreatic cancer .Gemcitabine was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 1998 after a clinical trial reported improvements in quality of life in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

This marked the first FDA approval of a chemotherapy drug for a non-survival clinical trial endpoint. Gemcitabine is administered intravenously on a weekly basis. Addition of oxaliplatin (Gem/Ox) conferred benefit in small trials, but is not yet standard therapy.^[39], a recently published study ECOG 6201 failed to show superiority of GEMOX over gemcitabine alone (Poplin et al, JCO 2009, Louvet et al. JCO 2005). Fluorouracil (5FU) may also be included, however no large randomized study has shown significant survival benefit from this addition(Berlin et al. JCO 2002). One sofar unpublished trial has shown a significant benefit from adding capecitabine to gemcitabine (Cunningham et al. ASCO proc 2005),

On the basis of a Canadian led Phase III Randomised Controlled trial involving 569 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, the US FDA has licensed the use of erlotinib (Tarceva) in combination with gemcitabine as a palliative regimen for pancreatic cancer. This trial compared the action of gemcitabine/erlotinib vs gemcitabine/placebo and demonstrated improved survival rates, improved tumor response and improved progression-free survival rates(Moore et al. JCO 2005). The survival improvement with the combination is on the order of less than four weeks, leading some cancer experts to question the incremental value of adding erlotinib to gemcitabine treatment. New trials are now investigating the effect of the above combination in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant setting. A trial of anti-angiogenesis agent bevacizumab (Avastin) as an addition to chemotherapy has shown no improvement in survival of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer(Kindler et al.). It may cause higher rates of high blood pressure, bleeding in the stomach and intestine, and intestinal perforations.

Non-Conventional/Integrative Medicine Approaches to the treatment of pancreatic cancer

In 2006 Berkson BM and colleagues published a peer-reviewed paper on the long-term survival of a man with biopsy-proven metastatic pancreatic cancer using the ALAN (alpha-lipoic acid/low dose naltrexone) protocol. The patient is alive and well, and working, eight years following diagnosis.{Berkson, BM, Rubin D, and Berkson AJ (2006) "Long term survival of a 46 year old man with pancreatic cancer and liver metastases and treated with intravenous alpha lipoic acid and low dose naltrexone." Integrative Cancer Therapies 5:1,83-89. PMID: 16484716}

In April 2007, an invitational LDN conference was held at the National Cancer Institute. Several lecturers were present discussing the use of low dose opioid blockers in treating several autoimmune diseases and cancer. Burton M. Berkson MD PhD discussed his experience treating several metastatic pancreatic cancer and B cell lymphoma patients with the ALAN protocol. Dr. Berkson's images showing the reduction and elimination of tumors and metastases were impressive. {NCI Conference:Low Dose Opioid Blockers "Promising Compounds for Unmet Medical Needs" Executive Plaza North, Bethesda, MD, 4/20/2007} {{Berkson, BM, Rubin D, and Berkson AJ (2007) "Reversal of signs and symptoms of a B-cell lymphoma in a patient using only only low dose naltrexone" Integrative Cancer Therapies Sep;6(3):293-296. PMID:17761642}

Berkson's (et al) scientific paper on 3 more pancreatic cancer successes with the ALAN protocol is scheduled to appear later this year in December,2009 Integrative Cancer Therapies.

The 5th Annual USA Low Dose Naltrexone Conference will be held Monday, October 19, 2009 in Lister Hill Auditorium in the National Library of Science Building of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland. At this meeting, funding of large scale studies will be discussed.

What does people say's?

It should have occurred to me sooner how this might be affecting my mom, since my stepdad died two years ago from pancreatic cancer. I feel like total shit. RIP Swayze.

To remind me that I'm a jerk.