Use of first-line chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer: FOLFIRINOX versus gemcitabine.

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e16536 Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. It is estimated that 43,920 patients will be diagnosed in 2012 and 37,390 will die (Siegel, CA Cancer J Clin, 2012). Gemcitabine has long been the standard of care chemotherapy. Recent advances in treatment options have led to the utilization of a combination regimen (oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin, fluorouracil [FOLFIRINOX]) in patients with good Karnofsky performance status (PS). This regimen was compared to single-agent gemcitabine, presented at ASCO 2010 and recently published (Conroy, NEJM, 2011). This retrospective analysis was conducted to evaluate characteristics and overall survival (OS) of patients receiving FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine-based treatments in a large outpatient community setting. Methods: Patients with advanced PC treated within The US Oncology Network and entered into the iKnowMed (iKM) database between June 2010 and November 2011 were included. Patterns of treatment were characterized by the median age at diagnosis, sex, PS, and first-line metastatic chemotherapy prescribed. The primary endpoints of the analysis were OS and uptake of FOLFIRINOX within the network. Results: Of the 717 patients identified within the iKM database, 13% received FOLFIRINOX and 87% gemcitabine-based therapy. Increased utilization of FOLFIRINOX for patients with good PS began in June 2010. For all patients (54% male), the median age at diagnosis was 67 years and the majority of patients (89%) had a PS of 70% or greater. The OS was significantly longer for FOLFIRINOX (8.4 months) versus gemcitabine (6.4 months) (p=0.036). OS was also significantly longer for PS of 70% or greater given FOLFIRINOX (9.0 months) versus gemcitabine (6.7 months) (p=0.022). After controlling for PS, the use of gemcitabine led to a shorter OS (HR 1.4; 95% CI: 1.02-2.01). Conclusions: Utilization of FOLFIRINOX has rapidly been adopted in patients with good PS after the publication of phase III trials. Our data in a community setting supports a survival advantage for FOLFIRINOX. Although the magnitude of benefit may be smaller in the community setting, we agree that should FOLFIRINOX become a standard of care for good PS patients.