Radiation therapy combined with Adriamycin or 5-fluorouracil for the treatment of locally unresectable pancreatic carcinoma. Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group.

One hundred fifty-seven patients with locally unresectable pancreatic carcinoma were randomly allocated to therapy with radiation and 5-fluorouracil or radiation and Adriamycin (doxorubicin). A total of 138 of 143 analyzable patients have died, and no differences in the relative survival impact of the treatments have been observed (P greater than 0.8). Toxicity on the Adriamycin arm was more substantial (P less than 0.05) and primarily attributable to Adriamycin chemotherapy after the completion of radiotherapy.