Surviving rectal cancer: examination of racial disparities surrounding access to care.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether survival differences are attributable to disproportionate access to stage-specific rectal cancer treatment recommended by the National Comprehensive Care Network. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the National Cancer Data Base between 1998 and 2006 was performed. A series of Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were used to compare 5-y survival among race cohorts. Propensity score matching was used to compare Caucasian and African American patients who received the same treatment by accounting for covariates. RESULTS: 5-y overall survival in African Americans was 50.7% versus 56.2% in Caucasians (P < 0.001). In patients with stage I-III disease, 5-y survival was 58.7% in African Americans versus 63.1% in Caucasians (P < 0.001). Analysis of patients receiving surgery for stage I-III disease, revealed a 61.1% 5-y survival in African Americans versus 65.8% in Caucasians (P < 0.001). Propensity score matching did not eliminate the racial disparity. The median survival for Caucasian patients was 109.6 mo as compared to 85.8 mo for African Americans (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These data show that access to standard care appears to decrease but not eliminate the survival differences between African Americans and Caucasians with rectal cancer.

Does radiologic response correlate to pathologic response in patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy for borderline resectable pancreatic malignancy?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In patients with borderline resectable pancreas cancers, clinicians frequently consider radiographic response as the primary driver of whether patients should be offered surgical intervention following neoadjuvant therapy (NT). We sought to determine any correlation between radiographic and pathologic response rates following NT. METHODS: Between 2005 and 2015, 38 patients at a tertiary care referral center underwent NT followed by pancreaticoduodenectomy for borderline resectable pancreas cancer. Radiographic response after the completion of NT and pathologic response after surgery were graded according to RECIST and Evans' criteria, respectively. RESULTS: Preoperatively, 50% of patients underwent chemotherapy alone and 50% underwent chemotherapy and chemoradiation. Radiographically, one patient demonstrated a complete radiologic response, 68.4% (n = 26) of patients had stable disease (SD), 26.3% (n = 10) demonstrated a partial response, and one patient had progressive. Among patients without radiographic response, 77.7% (n = 21) achieved a R0 resection. Of patients with SD on imaging, 26.9% (n = 7) had Evans grade IIB or greater pathologic response. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that approximately one-fourth of patients who did not have a radiologic response had a grade IIB or greater pathologic response. In the absence of metastatic progression, lack of radiographic down-staging following NT should not preclude surgery.

Predictors of survival in patients with high-grade peritoneal metastases undergoing cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Peritoneal metastases in patients with high-grade adenocarcinoma have been typically associated with a poor outcome. Recent literature has suggested that cytoreduction surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) may improve survival. We examined this subset of patients in an effort to better delineate those factors which contribute to improved survival. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed looking at patients who had undergone CRS/HIPEC. Patients were identified as high-grade histology on the basis of pathology reports indicating their lesion as high grade, moderately, or poorly differentiated and/or associated with signet ring or goblet cell carcinoid features. Peritoneal cancer index and completeness of cytoreduction (CC) were used to define disease burden. Survival analysis was performed by the method of Kaplan-Meier with the log-rank test used to determine significance. RESULTS: Of the 250 patients who underwent CRS/HIPEC between 1999 and 2011, 36 (14%) were identified as having peritoneal metastases from a high-grade gastrointestinal primary. Actual overall survival from the time of diagnosis was 11.1% at 5 years. Median survival from time of surgery was 21.6 months. Survival advantage was conferred to those patients who underwent a CC0/CC1 resection, had a peritoneal cancer index score at time of surgery ≤20, appendiceal primary, or moderately differentiated histopathology. Receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and nodal status was not significantly predictive of improved survival. Patients with signet ring cell histology had a particularly poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: For those patients with high-grade peritoneal metastases and historically a poor prognosis, prolonged survival may be achieved through CRS/HIPEC, optimally with a CC0/CC1 resection.