Reconsideration of the clinical impact of neoadjuvant therapy in resectable and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: A dual-institution collaborative clinical study

Purpose

We investigated true indication of neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in resectable pancreatic cancer and the optimal surgical timing in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.

Methods

A total of 687 patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer were enrolled. Survival analysis was performed by intention-to-treat analysis and propensity score matching (PSM) was conducted.

Results

In resectable disease, the NAT group showed better overall survival (OS) compared with the upfront group. Multivariate analysis identified CA19-9 level (≥100 U/mL) and lymph node metastasis to be prognostic factors, and a tumor size of 25 mm was the optimal cut-off value to predict lymph node metastasis. There was no significant survival difference between patients with a tumor size ≤25 mm and CA19-9 < 100 U/mL and those in the NAT group. In borderline resectable disease, OS in the NAT group was significantly better than that in the upfront group. CEA (≥5 ng/mL) and CA19-9 (≥100 U/mL) were identified as prognostic factors; however, the OS of patients fulfilling these factors was worse than that of the NAT group.

Conclusions

NAT could be unnecessary in patients with tumor size ≤25 mm and CA19-9 < 100 U/mL in resectable disease. In borderline resectable disease, surgery should be delayed until tumor marker levels are well controlled.