Neoadjuvant Modified FOLFIRINOX and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy in Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer. Patients with BRPC have tumors in close contact with the vasculature but not to the extent that resection is prohibited. Nonetheless, retrospective studies have shown that immediate resection in these patients is associated with an increased risk of positive margins, and a margin positive resection does not improve survival over that of patients with unresectable disease. Moreover, even in those patients where a successful resection is achieved, there is a high rate of early metastatic progression suggesting that micrometastatic disease is often present at diagnosis. Therefore neoadjuvant therapy is likely to improve outcomes in patients with BRPC to increase the likelihood of achieving a margin negative resection, provide early control of occult micrometastatic disease, and select those patients without systemic progression who would benefit from surgical resection.