Journal
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY
Volume 32, Issue 6, Pages 504-+Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2013.50.7657
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Funding
- Cancer Research UK
- National Cancer Institute of Canada
- Canadian Cancer Society
- Fonds de Recherche de la Societe Nationale Francaise de Gastroenterologie
- Fondazioone Italiana Malattie del Pancreas
- Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
- Cancer Council of New South Wales
- Cancer Council of Queensland
- Cancer Council of Victoria
- Cancer Council of South Australia
- National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the Royal Marsden Hospital (D.C.)
- Cancer Research UK [8968, 17680, 15957, 11883, 16186, 16812] Funding Source: researchfish
- National Institute for Health Research [NF-SI-0510-10126, 08/29/02] Funding Source: researchfish
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Purpose Adjuvant chemotherapy improves patient survival rates after resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, but the optimal duration and time to initiate chemotherapy is unknown. Patients and Methods Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma treated within the international, phase III, European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer-3 (version 2) study were included if they had been randomly assigned to chemotherapy. Overall survival analysis was performed on an intention-to-treat basis, retaining patients in their randomized groups, and adjusting the overall treatment effect by known prognostic variables as well as the start time of chemotherapy. Results There were 985 patients, of whom 486 (49%) received gemcitabine and 499 (51%) received fluorouracil; 675 patients (68%) completed all six cycles of chemotherapy (full course) and 293 patients (30%) completed one to five cycles. Lymph node involvement, resection margins status, tumor differentiation, and completion of therapy were all shown by multivariable Cox regression to be independent survival factors. Overall survival favored patients who completed the full six courses of treatment versus those who did not (hazard ratio [HR], 0.516; 95% CI, 0.443 to 0.601; P < .001). Time to starting chemotherapy did not influence overall survival rates for the full study population (HR, 0.985; 95% CI, 0.956 to 1.015). Chemotherapy start time was an important survival factor only for the subgroup of patients who did not complete therapy, in favor of later treatment (P < .001). Conclusion Completion of all six cycles of planned adjuvant chemotherapy rather than early initiation was an independent prognostic factor after resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. There seems to be no difference in outcome if chemotherapy is delayed up to 12 weeks, thus allowing adequate time for postoperative recovery. (C) 2014 by American Society of Clinical Oncology
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