The utility of intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) as an adjuvant to the surgical resection of pancreatic cancer was studied. In 1976, as our first trial with this combined therapy, we applied IORT with 30 Gy of electron beam with 8 MeV to 15 patients to prevent local recurrence around the celiac axis and superior mesenteric artery after standard pancreatectomy. However, the combined therapy did not show an improvement in survival rate as compared to that of 19 patients with standard operation alone. Autopsies of three patients with the combined therapy did not show involved lymph nodes in the radiation field, but did show local recurrence around the aorta outside the radiation field.
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