Abstract
Abstract only
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Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Lymph node involvement and resection margin status play important roles in predicting relapse. Resectable disease occurs in only 15–20% of total patients who present with PDAC. Unfortunately, margin involvement (R1) occurs in 70–80% of these patients. Emerging evidence has shown that the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and localised radiotherapy to downsize the tumours and increase the margin clearance (R0) rate may improve the overall survival of PDAC patients.We report a neoadjuvant therapy approach in the non-clinical trial setting of our large, tertiary cancer centre. Methods: We prospectively collected the outcome data and toxicity of 53 patients diagnosed with borderline resectable or initially non-resectable PDAC between 2012 and 2014. These patients received either FOLFIRINOX (FFX) or Gemcitabine/Capecitabine (GemCap) combination chemotherapies. Following restaging by computed tomography (CT), the patients proceeded to preo-operative 5-FU-based chemo-radiotherapy, immediate resection or subsequent palliativetherapies. Results: The median age was 65 (range 30 – 79) at PDAC diagnosis. Sixty-one percent (n=32) were male with the commonest anatomical location being the head of the pancreas (58%, n=31). The median follow up for survivors is 13.7 months (range: 5.3–24.4). The median overall survival was 18.3 months (95%, CI: 12.0–24.5). There was no statistical difference between overall survival in patients receiving FFX and GemCap chemotherapies. The margin clearance rate (R0) was 36% (4/11) in patients who proceeded to resection after neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone. The rate was 100% (4/4) in patients who received additional chemoradiation prior to surgery. Conclusions: This case series reveals that neoadjuvant therapy improved survival of patients with PDAC. In addition, we showed an increase in the R0 resection rate in patients who underwent chemoradiation prior to surgery. Further work is ongoing but based on historical data we believe that this neoadjuvant approach may lead to a long term survival benefit.