Effect of FOLFIRINOX with PEG-G-CSF for unresectable/recurrent pancreatic cancer.

Abstract

411 Background: FOLFIRINOX (FFX) is a standard therapy for unresectable/recurrent pancreatic cancer, but it is associated with a high frequency of severe adverse events, especially blood toxicity. Human pegylated granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (PEG-G-CSF) can reduce the outpatient frequency during outpatient chemotherapy. However, there are few reports on the effectiveness of PEG-G-CSF in preventing febrile neutropenia during FFX. We retrospectively investigated the usefulness of PEG-G-CSF in reducing the incidence of FN during FFX. Methods: From June 2014 to January 2017, 40 patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer received FFX (including modified FFX) at our hospital. Twenty-three patients were administered PEG-G-CSF as primary/secondary preventive therapy (G group) and 17 were not administered any G-CSF (NG group). Results: The median patient ages in the G and NG groups were 65 (range, 48-78) and 63 (range, 42-81) years, respectively, and the male to female ratios were 13:10 and 11:6, respectively. There were 13 and 10 patients, respectively, in the G group with performance statuses of 0 and 1 and 8 and 9 such patients, respectively, in the NG group. Seventeen and five patients in the G and NG groups, respectively, had metastatic disease and six and two patients, respectively, had locally advanced disease. The respective response rates (RRs) in the G and NG groups were 30% and 6% (p = 0.0608), and the respective disease control rates (DCRs) were 30% and 41% (p = 0.0407). The median progression-free survivals in the G and NG groups were 7.3 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3–9.4) and 4.5 (95% CI, 1.9–8.5) months, respectively (p = 0.173), and the respective overall survivals were 16.9 (95% CI, 10.2–NA) and 14.2 (95% CI, 7.8–20.5) months (p = 0.302). Conclusions: The DCR was significantly greater in the G group than in the NG group, and the RR tended to be greater in the G group than in the NG group. A high tumor shrinking effect of FFX with PEG-G-CSF indicated that it might be useful as a neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A prospective study is needed to examine first-line chemotherapy in unresectable/recurrent pancreatic cancer and neoadjuvant chemotherapy in borderline/locally advanced pancreatic cancer.