Advances in the treatment of pancreatic cancer with liver metastasis / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Pancreatic cancer with liver metastases (PCLM) is a refractory malignant tumor characterized by insidious onset, rap-id progress, and poor prognosis. Only a few patients had the opportunity of receiving surgical treatment. PCLM is primarily treated by systemic chemotherapy. The chemotherapeutic regimen of 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, irinotecan, and leucovorin has become the first-line therapy for PCLM patients with good performance status. Gemcitabine-based chemotherapy is still very important in treating PCLM. Nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine, which has been found to increase survival, is recommended as a new standard for treating PCLM patients. However, still no breakthrough has been established in the study of gemcitabine plus molecular-targeted therapy. Sys-temic chemotherapy combined with trans-catheter arterial chemoembolization is valuable and may be effectual in prolonging survival. Further investigation of prospective and randomized controlled clinical trials is necessary. Radio frequency ablation and brachy-thera-peutic embolization with yttrium-90 microspheres are still in the exploratory stage. Multimodality treatment of PCLM using chemother-apy, radiation therapy, and Chinese herbal medicine is gaining wide acceptance. This article reviews the recent progress in the treatment of PCLM.