Neoadjuvant mFolfirinox With or Without Preoperative Concomitant Chemoradiotherapy in Patients With Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Carcinoma (PANDAS-PRODIGE 44)

Surgery, especially if followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, offers the only chance of cure of pancreatic cancer. At first diagnosis, after careful assessment, only 10 to 15% of patients are considered to be candidates for surgical resection and about 7% have a potentially resectable disease. These potentially resectable tumors called "borderline resectable pancreatic cancer" (BRPC) are conceptualized as those that involve the mesenteric vasculature to a limited extent and those for which resection, while possible, would likely be compromised by positive surgical margins (R1) in the absence of neoadjuvant treatment. R0 resection is indeed considered as an independent prognostic factor for survival when the surgical procedures, histological examination and definition of microscopic invasion are standardized. The objectives of neoadjuvant treatments of BRPC is to reduce tumor volume before surgery in order to improve the chances of radical (R0) resection and to reduce the rate of lymph node positivity and recurrences. The primary outcome in published studies is usually R0 resection rate, but these results also depend on the number of margins examined and the definition of microscopic margin involvement. Prospective studies with consistent selection criteria and standardized assessment criteria are needed. Different neoadjuvant therapeutic strategies have been tested in pilot studies: preoperative chemoradiotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed or not by a preoperative (chemo)radiotherapy. Due to the lack of randomized studies, the best sequence of treatment administration has not been established. The aim of this prospective, randomized, multicenter, trial is to evaluate the R0 resection rate with neoadjuvant Folfirinox, followed or not by radiochemotherapy for patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancers.