RESUMO
Twenty-one patients with unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer were evaluated in this retrospective analysis. They received extra-beam radiotherapy(50.4-54 Gy/28-30 fractions)with concurrent continuous infusion of 5-FU(250 mg/m(2)day)between December 1999 and April 2007. The radiation field included primary tumor and adjacent lymph nodes. Twenty patients(95%)completed chemoradiotherapy, although one patient quit radiotherapy due to vomiting. No lethal side effects were observed. The response rate was 10%. One of the patients judged to have stable disease underwent resection after maintenance chemotherapy. The median progression free survival and the median overall survival were 6.4 and 12 months, respectively. In eleven patients(52%), the initial sites of disease progression were local or peritoneum without liver metastases, suggesting systemic effects of this treatment. In conclusion, 5-FU based chemoradiotherapyis well tolerated and provides definite benefits against unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer.