Research in context
Evidence before this study
We searched PubMed for phase 3 trials of adjuvant treatment for pancreatic cancer published between Jan 1, 2000, and Dec 31, 2015. We searched using the terms “pancreatic cancer”, “adjuvant chemotherapy” with the limitation by “clinical trial phase 3” and “published between 2000 and 2015”, excluding “neoadjuvant” and “locally advanced”. A few trials have shown that postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival of patients with resected pancreatic cancer. However, survival of patients with pancreatic cancer after macroscopically curative resection still remains low.
Added value of this study
Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 significantly increased both overall and relapse-free survival of Japanese patients with resected pancreatic cancer compared with gemcitabine. S-1 was well tolerated in the adjuvant setting and has the potential to contribute to improve patients' quality of life.
Implications of all the available evidence
Adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 can be a new standard care for resected pancreatic cancer in Japanese patients. These results should be assessed in non-Asian patients.