These findings suggest the technique may help some patients become eligible for surgery. However, clear surgical margins do not establish that all cancer has been eliminated from the body.
The treatment also requires precautions. Because padeliporfin temporarily increases sensitivity to light, patients must spend three days in a darkened room after receiving it.
Although the initial findings are encouraging, six patients are far too few to establish how safe or effective the approach will be more broadly. Larger studies and longer follow-up are needed to determine whether it can improve survival. For now, it remains an experimental treatment, rather than a proven cure for pancreatic can/cer.
