ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy combined with Kanglaite Injection (KI) for locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 50 patients unsuitable for surgery were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group, 25 in each group. Patients in the control group were treated with gemcitabine and concurrent 3D-CRT, while those in the treatment group were also treated with intravenous injection of KI (at 100 mL/d) for 21 successive days, 28 days as one cycle, two cycles with one week interval. The short-term curative effect, the survival time, the improvement of symptoms, the tumor markers, and adverse reactions were respectively observed for two years.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The short-term curative effective rate (CR + PR) was 52.17% (12/23), and the disease control rate (CR + PR + SD) was 95.65% (22/23) in the treatment group. The short-term curative effective rate (CR + PR) was 41.67% (10/24), and the disease control rate (CR + PR + SD) was 87.50% (21/24) in the control group. There was no statistical difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). The 2-year survival rate was 34.78% (8/23) in the treatment group, better than that in the control group (25.00%, 6/24). The median survival time was 17.2 months in the treatment group and 12.4 months in the control group with statistical difference (P < 0.05). The response rate of pain relief and weight gain were 75.00% and 82.61% in the treatment group respectively, and they were 50.00% and 54.67% in the control group respectively, showing statistical difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). After treatment, the levels of CA19-9 (U/mL) and CEA (ng/mL) were respectively reduced to 118. 00 +/- 78.89 and 7.41 +/- 2.37 respectively in the treatment group, showing statistical difference when compared with those of the control group (being 216.00 +/- 153.23 and 12.25 +/- 7.53 respectively, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The concurrent chemoradiotherapy com- bined with KI for locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma patients obtained better results.</p>