Stereotactic Radiotherapy Can Slow Pancreatic Cancer Progression for Inoperable Patients

For pancreatic cancer patients unable to undergo surgery, the only known mitigation for this form of cancer is targeted radiation that may help slow cancer progression and lessen disease symptoms, according to new findings. Called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), the study revealed that it was able to delay pancreatic cancer progression locally, on average, by nearly six months.

While, on average, the patients in the study lived about 10 months, one-third lived more than a year. Without any treatment--surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy--most pancreatic cancer patients only live about four to six months.

"Our research establishes stereotactic body radiotherapy as a reasonable treatment option for patients who can't have surgery or aren't candidates for chemotherapy,” said study lead author Michael Haley, DO, a resident in the department of radiation oncology at Henry Ford Hospital (Detroit, MI USA). "While it's not a curative therapy, it does seem to allow some progression-free survival benefit with minimal side-effects for patients. Ultimately, we're able to provide a treatment to patients who don't have any other options other than a traditionally prolonged course of radiation, which may not be as effective, and possibly has more side effects.”

Study coauthor Munther Ajlouni, M.D., senior staff physician in the department of radiation oncology at Henry Ford, stated, "SBRT allows us to effectively treat patients who are unable to tolerate prolonged, aggressive therapy within a short period of time and with minimal toxicity.”

The study was presented November 2, 2010, at the 52nd annual American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting in San Diego, CA, USA. Results were reported online in the November 2010 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology.

SBRT is a technique of giving radiation that can be highly targeted to the tumor, sparing the normal neighboring tissue. It also provides a higher dose of radiation, meaning patients have fewer treatments. It is most typically used for lung cancer patients, but has been used for liver and brain tumors as well.

The Henry Ford study looked to determine if SBRT was a feasible option to slow cancer progression in medically inoperable patients with potentially resectable pancreatic cancer. The study included 12 medically inoperable patients with stage I or II pancreatic cancer. The average patient age was 83. Patients received between three and seven SBRT treatments.

Among those patients whose cancer spread, SBRT was able to slow cancer progression for five to six months. Once the patients' cancer started to progress, they lived approximately 2.5 months. "This may indicate that this slowing of the progression of disease accomplished by SBRT may modestly increase overall life span,” noted Dr. Haley.

Several patients reported some minor side effects from treatment, including fatigue, loss of appetite, and weakness. Two patients developed gastric ulcers, but both recovered.

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