Open Access<p>Pancreatic cancer in young adults: changes, challenges, and solutions</p>
Author(s) -
Florian Primavesi,
Stefan Stättner,
Konstantin Schlick,
Tobias Kiesslich,
Christian Mayr,
E. Klieser,
Romana Urbas,
Daniel Neureiter
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
oncotargets and therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.054
H-Index - 60
ISSN - 1178-6930
DOI - 10.2147/ott.s176700
Subject(s) - pancreatic cancer , medicine , clinical trial , multidisciplinary approach , oncology , population , cancer , chemotherapy , social science , environmental health , sociology
Despite improvements in multidisciplinary treatments, survival of pancreatic cancer (PC) patients remains dismal. Studies dealing with early onset pancreatic cancer (EOPC) patients are scarce. In this review, we discuss differences between EOPC and late-onset pancreatic cancer based on findings in original papers and reviews with a focus on morphology, genetics, clinical outcomes and therapy. In conclusion, families with a positive history of PC and patients with BRCA 1 or 2 mutations should be monitored. Patients with EOPC usually present with better overall fitness compared to the average PC population, however often with even more aggressive cancer behaviour. Therefore, potent state-of-the-art multi-modal systemic therapies should be applied whenever possible. Large-scale registries and randomized clinical trials dealing with EOPC in regard to distinct biology and outcome are warranted.