Capecitabine: an evidence-based review of its effectiveness in the treatment of carcinoma of the pancreas.

Introduction: More than 90% of patients with pancreatic cancer present either with incurable locally advanced or metastatic disease or relapse following surgery. For these patients systemic therapy offers the only prospect of salvage, but pancreatic cancer is one of the most chemoresistant of tumors; current chemotherapy can only delay progression in a limited proportion of patients and survival rates are poor. There is therefore a pressing need for more effective therapy. Capecitabine is a new oral prodrug of fluorouracil, which has shown activity in pancreatic cancer particularly when used in combination with gemcitabine.