Chemoradiotherapy improves survival after pancreatic adenocarcinoma resection

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

Chemoradiotherapy was independently associated with improved overall survival after the resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, particularly among patients with R1 resection and pN1 disease, according to results from a large national cohort study published online ahead of print in the journal Cancer.

For the study, researchers sought to compare the effectiveness of chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy in patients with pT1-3N0-1M0 pancreatic adenocarcinoma after pancreatectomy. Researchers identified 6,165 patients from the National Cancer Data Base who were treated with chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy.

Results showed that chemoradiotherapy was associated with improved overall survival vs chemotherapy alone. Subgroup analyses demonstrated that chemoradiotherapy was significantly associated with improved overall survival among those with pT3 or pN1 disease and both R0 resection and R1 resection.

The findings suggest that a prospective randomized head-to-head trial comparing adjuvant chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy are warranted to assess their efficacy in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have undergone pancreatectomy.