Philip Agop Philip, MD, PhD, FRCP

Dr Castellanos et al have provided a very comprehensive review of the multimodality therapy of localized pancreatic cancer, with an emphasis on adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapies.

Despite an overall rise in the incidence of gastrointestinal malignancies in the United States, there has been a significant decrease in the incidence of adenocarcinoma of the stomach over the past few decades. Nevertheless, gastric carcinoma remains the eighth leading cause of cancer death in the United States [1].

Carcinoma of the esophagus or the gastroesophageal junction is uncommon, accounting for approximately 1% of all malignancies in the United States [1]. An estimated 12,100 new cases and 10,900 deaths will occur in 1995.

Gemcitabine (Gemzar) (2-deoxy-2,2-difluorocytidine) is a new antimetabolite being increasingly used in the treatment of solid tumors. It is an analog of deoxycytidine and cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) (Figure 1) that has shown significant activity