Resection rate of locally advanced pancreatic cancer in gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel versus FOLFIRINOX.

Abstract

381 Background: There is no established treatment for locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC), but by utilizing the regimens approved for metastatic pancreatic cancer, hope remains for rendering tumors resectable with chemotherapy. In this context, we looked at the resection rate in patients receiving gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel (Gem-Nab) in a prospective trial of patients with LAPC. Methods: TIGeR-PaC is an ongoing phase III clinical trial, studying the role of intra-arterial Gemcitabine (IA-Gem) in LAPC. The trial is designed with an induction phase where patients receive 3 cycles of Gem-Nab and a cycle of radiation after which they are randomized to IA-Gem or continuing with 4 cycles of Gem-Nab. We studied the resection rate in patients receiving Gem-Nab during induction who had subsequently continued receiving Gem-Nab post-randomization. Results: As of July 2020, 80 patients have been enrolled in the study. From this report, 30 patients were excluded because they had not completed induction and/or active treatment or were randomized to IA-Gem at the time of analysis. From the remaining 50 patients, 5 underwent resection for an overall resection rate of 10%. The median age for the total cohort was 67 years (range 47-83). Most of the resections were performed on the younger cohort of patients under 65 years (median age 60, range 47-65) in whom the resection rate was 4 out of 22 (18.2%). Conclusions: In the younger cohort of patients, TIGeR-PaC results are in line with the 15% resection rate in the LAPACT trial of patients with median age of 65 years, as reported by Phillip et al., 2020. In the TIGeR-PaC study the resection rate for LAPC treated with Gem-Nab was 10% overall, and 18.2% for younger patient population. These resection rates are comparable to the other reports for Gem-Nab and are similar to retrospective reports for the younger patients undergoing resection after treatment with FOLFIRINOX. Clinical trial information: NCT03257033.