A Personalized Approach to Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and its Application in Surgical Practice

Abstract

Pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma is an aggressive tumor which constitutes the fourth leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the USA. Despite the fact that surgery is an integral part of treatment, 5-year survival rates remain unfavorable, partly because of the complex genetic background, delayed diagnosis and also the absence of effective therapeutic approaches. To optimize surgery’s results in recent years, the use of patients’ genetic profile has been implemented through classification into subtypes; subtypes based on mutations which could efficiently lead oncologists to the path of targeted novel neoadjuvant regimens. This approach aims to achieve the most effective selection of patients undergoing surgery, to increase the number of potentially resectable tumors and also control micro-metastases, aiming to extend overall survival.

Keywords::

• adenocarcinoma
• chemotherapy
• molecular
• neoadjuvant
• pancreatic
• subtypes

Author contributions

D Schizas, A Koumpoura, M Galari, P Economopoulou, M Vailas, M Sotiropoulou, D Dimitroulis made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data and drafting the article. I Maroulis made critical revisions related to important intellectual content of the manuscript. E Felekouras made final approval of the version of the article to be published.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants, or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.