# Current Systemic Treatment Options for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer—An Overview Article

## TL;DR

This review discusses current treatments for advanced pancreatic cancer, focusing on chemotherapy and emerging targeted therapies.

## Contribution

The paper provides an updated overview of systemic treatment options and their outcomes for advanced pancreatic cancer.

## Key findings

- FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy offers better median survival than gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel.
- Olaparib maintenance treatment delays disease progression but does not improve overall survival.
- Immunotherapy and targeted therapy are limited to specific molecular profiles but show potential for future development.

## Abstract

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is one of the most aggressive malignancies, with a steadily increasing incidence rate. Due to the asymptomatic nature of early cancer and frequent late diagnosis, only 10–20% of patients are considered for radical treatment. In approximately 40% of patients, local advancement precludes primary surgical treatment, and in approximately half of patients, the cancer is diagnosed at the metastatic stage. Treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer is based on systemic therapy, while a growing number of studies are focusing on the potential use of molecularly targeted agents. The median survival time for metastatic patients treated with FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy is 11 months, compared to 8.5 months for patients treated with gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel-based chemotherapy. Olaparib in the maintenance treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer prolongs the time to progression compared to placebo but does not affect median overall survival. Immunotherapy and targeted therapy have so far been used in a narrow group of patients with a specific molecular profile, but further research on this cancer offers a real opportunity to develop new treatment approaches. This review article is based on the NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) guidelines and publications available in the PubMed database.