BACKGROUND: The 5-year survival rate for patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) is 4%-12%. Surgery is the only treatment that offers curative potential, but only 15%-20% of patients are eligible for surgery. PC is prone to recurrence and metastasis, and the antitumor effect of chemotherapy is notably limited. CASE SUMMARY: Histopathological analysis of a 53-year-old female PC patient who underwent Whipple surgery revealed poorly differentiated tumor cells infiltrating nerves, lymphatics, and blood vessels. The patient received two different first-line chemotherapy regimens consecutively
however, both regimens struggled to control disease progression. During this period, the patient underwent liver metastasis ablation surgery, CONCLUSION: Immunotherapy and targeted therapy have the potential to increase both the quality of life and survival time of PC patients, particularly those whose tumor progression is not effectively controlled by chemotherapy alone. Nevertheless, further clinical trials are necessary to validate these findings.