Influence of the adjuvant therapy on the survival of patients with stage II pancreatic carcinoma.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the effect of adjuvant therapy on the treatment of stage II pancreatic carcinomas. The clinical data of 139 cases of stage II pancreatic carcinoma were analyzed retrospectively. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year cumulative survival rates of 139 patients were 40%, 6%, and 3%, respectively, and the median survival time (MST) was 279 days. The MST was 399 days for those with adjuvant therapy, 210 days for those without adjuvant therapy, 390 days for the radical resection group, 270 days for the bypass operation and laparotomy group, and 132 days for the nonsurgical group. The adjuvant therapy could not prolong the survival time and decrease the liver metastasis rate of the patients with stage II carcinoma significantly in radical resection group (P>0.05). In the bypass operation and laparotomy group and nonsurgical group, the adjuvant therapy could improve the survival of the patients significantly (P<0.05); however, the survival rate was not significantly different among systemic venous chemotherapy, radiation therapy, interventional therapy, and combination therapy (P>0.05); or between gemcitabine (GEM) regimen and 5-fluorouracil regimen (P>0.05); or between GEM monotherapy and GEM combined with platinum/capecitabine (P>0.05). The proper adjuvant therapy can be suggested according to the general condition of the patients after radical resection for stage II pancreatic carcinoma. Chemotherapy combined with radiation should be applied actively for the patients whose cancerous tissues were not radically resected. The clinical efficacy of GEM combined with platinum/capecitabine is relatively better than GEM.