With an overall 5-year survival rate of only 7%, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) has now eclipsed breast cancer as the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States1 and it is predicted to be second by 2030.2 Despite improvements in surgical and clinical management, the majority of patients with localized PDA who undergo successfully R0 surgical resection (ie, resection followed by absence of cancerous cells seen microscopically at the margins) succumb to recurrent local or distant metastatic disease.

With an overall 5-year survival rate of only 7%, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) has now eclipsed breast cancer as the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States1 and it is predicted to be second by 2030.2 Despite improvements in surgical and clinical management, the majority of patients with localized PDA who undergo successfully R0 surgical resection (ie, resection followed by absence of cancerous cells seen microscopically at the margins) succumb to recurrent local or distant metastatic disease.