Prognostic role of a novel clinical-nutritional index in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: The Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Nutritional-Clinical Index (PANCIN).

Abstract

697 Background: Impaired nutritional status is often associated with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and poor prognosis. Little is known on the prognostic role of nutritional variables in PDAC patients (pts) receiving chemotherapy (CT). Methods: Locally advanced or metastatic PDAC pts enrolled at our Institute in a prospective observational study (PAC-MAIN) and treated with 1st-line CT between April 2019 and July 2021 were included in the analysis. Clinical and nutritional variables entailed biohumoral parameters, bioimpedance vector analysis (BIVA)- and Computed Tomography-derived body composition. Progression-free and Overall survival (PFS and OS) were calculated from CT start to progression or death. A Multivariate Cox proportional-hazards model for PFS prediction was generated by backward selection of features with a p-value (p) ≤ 0.06. The resultant index, named PANCIN, was calculated as linear combination of the covariates (Xi are the N) and the b Cox coefficients (bi), according to the formula: PANCIN = ∑Ni=1 bi Xi Kaplan–Meier test was performed to assess the ability of PANCIN to stratify pts according to its median value for PFS and OS prediction. Results: 74 pts were included in the study. The variables retained in the model were: serum Vitamin B12 (pg/ml) [Hazard Ratio (HR)= 1.001, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.0004-1.0016, p=0.002]; BIVA-derived Body Cell Mass (%) [HR= 0.94, 95% CI 0.887-1.002, p=0.058]; ECOG Performance Status (0 vs 1-2) [HR= 3.25, 95% CI 1.048-10.077, p=0.041]; Albumin (g/L) [HR= 0.91, 95% CI 0.86-0.97, p=0.002]; FAACT Score [HR= 1.041, 95% CI 1.006-1.077, p=0.022]. Median PFS was 15.3 (95% CI 7.6-21.8) and 5.8 months (95% CI 2.7-9.0) for pts with PANCIN < or ≥ -1.7768 median value respectively [HR= 3.7, 95% CI 1.9-7.0, p=0.0001]. Median OS was 23.8 (95% CI 12.6-33.3) and 10.0 months (95% CI 5.7-12.7) for pts with PANCIN < or ≥ -1.7768 respectively [HR= 4.1, 95% CI 2.1-7.9, p<0.0001]. Conclusions: PANCIN is a novel nutritional-clinical index able to predict outcome of advanced PDAC pts receiving CT. If furtherly validated, it may represent a stratification tool both in clinical practice and in prospective trials. Our findings also support the relevance of a baseline comprehensive nutritional assessment, to define tailored nutritional interventions.[Table: see text]