Induction Chemotherapy With FOLFIRINOX Followed by Chemoradiation With Gemcitabine in Patients With Borderline-Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Introduction: Perioperative therapy is standard for patients with borderline-resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (BR-PDAC); however, an optimal neoadjuvant regimen is lacking. We assessed the efficacy of FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy followed by gemcitabine-based chemoradiation as preoperative therapy. Methods: Patients received 4 cycles of FOLFIRINOX, followed by 6-weekly gemcitabine with concomitant intensitymodulated radiation. The primary endpoint was the RO resection rate. Secondary outcomes included resection rate, overall-response, overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and tolerability. The trial was terminated early due to slow accrual. A Simon's optimal two-stage phase II trial single arm design was used. The primary hypothesis of treatment efficacy was tested using a multistage group sequential inference procedure. The secondary failure time analysis endpoints were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier procedure and the Cox regression model. Results: A total of 22 patients enrolled in the study, 18 (81.8%) completed neoadjuvant treatment. The bias corrected RO rate was 55.6% (90% CI: 33.3, 68.3; P value = .16) among patients that received at least 1 cycle of FOLFIRINOX and was 80% among patients that underwent surgery. The median OS was 35.1 months. The median PFS among patients that underwent surgery was 34 months. Conclusion: An RO resection rate of 55.6% is favorable. Neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX followed by concomitant Gemcitabine with radiation was well-tolerated.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the efficacy of FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy followed by gemcitabine-based chemoradiation as neoadjuvant therapy for borderline-resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (BR-PDAC). The results showed a favorable RO resection rate of 55.6% and good tolerability of the regimen.