Timeliness of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer.

Abstract

e18038 Background: Timeliness of adjuvant chemotherapy is an important predictor of survival for patients with breast and colorectal cancer whereby long delays has been shown to detrimentally impact outcomes. The effects of adjuvant treatment timing remain largely unknown for early pancreatic cancer. This study aims to identify independent predictors of treatment timeliness and overall survival in this patient population. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, population-based analysis of 179 patients with resected pancreatic cancer who subsequently started adjuvant chemotherapy between 2008 and 2014 at any 1 of 6 cancer centers across British Columbia, Canada. Logistic regression was used to identify predictive factors for adjuvant chemotherapy timing. Prognostic factors for survival were ascertained using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Our study cohort included 91 men (51%) and 88 women (49%). At time of diagnosis, 145 patients (81%) had nodal involvement and 107 patients (60%) had good ECOG performance status (ECOG 0-1). The median age of diagnosis was 67 (range 37-85) years. The median interval between surgery and start of adjuvant chemotherapy was 70 (range 19-46) days. Abnormal bilirubin was the only factor significantly correlated with delayed chemotherapy (OR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.55-9.73; P = 0.004). Median overall survival was 468 days following resection (95% CI, 425-538). Multivariate survival analysis showed that high CA 19-9 levels (HR, 2.44, 95% CI: 1.36-4.40, P = 0.003) and abnormal bilirubin (HR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.22-0.73; P = 0.003) were prognostic factors for overall survival. Median survival for patients who waited up to 35, 70 or 105 days for chemotherapy following resection were 588 days (95% CI, 270-776), 490 days (95% CI, 360-688) and 466 days (95% CI, 432-538) respectively. Overall, timeliness was not predictive of survival (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.64-1.97; P= 0.70). Conclusions: Patients with hyperbilirubinema experienced delays in adjuvant chemotherapy, likely due to the need for relief of biliary obstruction and subsequent recovery. However, timeliness of adjuvant chemotherapy did not influence outcomes, suggesting that treatment should still be considered irrespective of timing.