Pancreas club international joint symposium on pancreatic cancer 2012, Kyoto: down staging chemo±radiotherapy for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer

This manuscript summarized one section out of the international symposium, Pancreatic Cancer 2012, which was held last October 4th through 6th in Kyoto (Japan) under the theme, "We are the Team: Opening the Door to the Next Step for Pancreatic Cancer Therapy." Borderline resectable pancreatic cancer (BRPC) is a specific clinical presentation with features in between those of resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancers. The classification of pancreatic cancer is an important issue given that a cancer may look resectable but be high-risk for R1 or R2 resection. Considering that margin-negative resection is a fundamental requirement for curing pancreatic cancer, this issue is one of the most interesting to pancreatic surgeons. At Pancreatic Cancer 2012 in Kyoto, BRPC was also discussed at the Pancreatic Club International Joint Symposium. In this manuscript, the contents of the presented topics are briefly summarized to facilitate understanding of recent issues in managing BRPC.