[Therapeutic approaches of adenocarcinoma of the exocrine pancreas. Trends in 1997].

The prognosis for adenocarcinoma of the pancreas remains poor. Besides surgical treatment of operable localised tumours, many questions are raised: what is the role of adjuvant therapies, chemo-radiotherapy, pre-operative or post-operative combinations, and what is the role of radiotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy during surgery? In the case of inoperable tumours, there is no consensus on the role and the value of various protocols whose toxicity is generally high. Improvements in treatment must come from a better understanding of the role of various prognostic factors (biological markers in particular).