This paper reviews the current status of photon and particle radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer in combination with systemic therapies and hypoxia activators. With Medline database, the study found that limited published data suggest pancreatic cancer patients undergoing carbon ion therapy and proton therapy achieve a comparable median survival time (25.1 months and 25.6 months, respectively) and 1-year overall survival rate (84% and 77.8%).

Inconsistencies in methodology, recording parameters and protocols have prevented the safety and technical aspects of particle therapy to be fully defined yet.