Validation and modification of the AJCC 8th TNM staging system for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in a Chinese cohort: A nationwide pancreas data center analysis.

Hao Hu,Hongqiao Gao,Xiaodong Tian,Bingjun Tang,Yiran Chen,Weikang Liu,Yan Zhuang,Yongsu Ma,Yinmo Yang,Chang Qu,Xuehai Xie

doi:10.21147/j.issn.1000-9604.2021.04.03

Abstract

ObjectiveTo validate the 8th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in a Chinese cohort of radically resected patients and to develop a refined staging system for PDAC.MethodsData were collected from the China Pancreas Data Center (CPDC) for patients with resected PDAC in 2016 and 2017, and cancer-specific survival (CSS) was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses based on Cox regression were performed to identify prognostic factors. The recursive partitioning analysis (RPA), Kaplan-Meier method, and log-rank test were performed on the training dataset to generate a proposed modification for the 8th TNM staging system utilizing the preoperative carbohydrate antigen (CA)19-9 level. Validation was performed for both staging systems in the validation cohort.ResultsA total of 1,676 PDAC patients were retrieved, and the median CSS was significantly different between the 8th TNM groupings, with no significant difference in survival between stage IB and IIA. The analysis of T and N stages demonstrated a better prognostic value in the N category. Multivariate analysis showed that the preoperative serum CA19-9 level was the strongest prognostic indicator among all the independent risk factors. All patients with CA19-9 >500 U/mL had similar survival, and we proposed a new staging system by combining IB and IIA and stratifying all patients with high CA19-9 into stage III. The modified staging system had a better performance for predicting CSS than the 8th AJCC staging scheme.ConclusionsThe 8th AJCC staging system for PDAC is suitable for a Chinese cohort of resected patients, and the N category has a better prognostic value than the T category. Our modified staging system has superior accuracy in predicting survival than the 8th AJCC TNM staging system.

Highlights

Despite advances in multimodality treatment, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains one of the most lethal malignancies, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 8%, and it is expected to be the second greatest cause of www.cjcrcn.orgChin J Cancer Res 2021;33(4):457-469 cancer-related death in 2030 [1,2]
The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM staging system is the most widely used indicator for such purposes, and it is based on three factors: tumor size and extension (T), lymph node metastasis (N), and distant metastasis (M)
cancer-specific survival (CSS), cancer specific survival; PDAC, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; AJCC, American Joint Committee on Cancer; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval; NA, not available

Summary

Introduction

Despite advances in multimodality treatment, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains one of the most lethal malignancies, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 8%, and it is expected to be the second greatest cause of www.cjcrcn.orgChin J Cancer Res 2021;33(4):457469 cancer-related death in 2030 [1,2]. Despite advances in multimodality treatment, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains one of the most lethal malignancies, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 8%, and it is expected to be the second greatest cause of www.cjcrcn.org. The poor survival of PDAC patients requires the development of an accurate staging system to guide treatment and predict prognosis. Several studies have validated the predictive value of this system in clinical use and proposed modifications for the AJCC 8th edition staging system [514]. Most of these studies are based on Western cohorts, and whether the modified staging system is suitable for the Chinese population remains unclear

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion