In a new study, researchers found that FOLFIRINOX, a new combination of cancer drugs, may improve outcomes in people with pancreatic cancer.
The research was conducted by a team from West Virginia University.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer in the world.
According to the American Cancer Society, more people may die from pancreatic cancer than from breast, brain, ovarian or prostate cancer this year.
One reason pancreatic cancer is so deadly is its resistance to traditional chemotherapy.
In the new study, the team focused on a type of pancreatic cancer in which a tumor may be too close to a blood vessel to be removed safely.
Usually, chemotherapy is used to shrink the tumor off of the vein and change it from borderline resectable to resectable, or removable by surgery.
They ran a meta-analysis of 24 studies, which included 313 cases of borderline resectable pancreatic cancer that physicians treated with FOLFIRINOX.
They analyzed the patients’ overall survival rates and evaluated how frequently tumors shrank enough to be surgically removed.
The research found that FOLFIRINOX could prolong pancreatic cancer patients’ lives and made surgery possible in more cases.
More than two-thirds of the cancers included in the study responded well enough to FOLFIRINOX that they could be completely removed surgically.
The team believes the new treatment may greatly benefit pancreatic cancer patients.
Currently, they are pursuing studies that span the laboratories where scientists conduct basic-science experiments, the infusion rooms where patients receive treatment and the operating rooms where oncologists perform surgery.
One author of the study is surgical oncologist Brian Boone.
The study is published in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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