Studies demonstrated a prognostic role for postoperative CA 19-9 in patients with resectable pancreatic carcinoma following surgery. Our study aimed to investigate whether CA 19-9 provided similar prognostic information in patients with advanced unre
sectable pancreatic cancer treated with chemotherapy and to determine whether such endpoints should therefore be reported in future randomized trials. Between Mars 2014 and December 2015, 36 patients ( median age 57 years, range 38-80 years, 9 females, 27 males ) with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma and a baseline Karnofsky-index more than 60 were treated with chemotherapy . Only patients with a bilirubin of less than 2 mg/dL at the time the CA 19-9 was evaluated were included in the analysis to avoid the confounding effect of hyperbilirubinemia. Only patients with basal high CA19-9 were included in the analysis. Survival was measured from the date of first post CRT CA 19-9 level until death or last follow-up. Patients with a decrease of20 < % of the baseline CA19-9 level after 8 weeks of treatment (n=25) had a significantly better median survival than patients with a rise or a decrease < 20% (n-11) (6.98 vs4.68 months; p=0.007). Age and basal CA19-9 did not show significant or a trend for significant differences regarding survival by univariate analysis (P=0.987, p=0.878 respectively). Females had a significantly better median survival than males (7.83 vs 5.75 months, P=0.023).
Evaluation of the management of cancer in the body and tail of
the pancreas with determining the role of surgery in the management of
these tumors.
The study was performed retrospectively. It included all patients
who were admitted in Al Assad Un
iversity Hospital in Damascus between
2003 and 2008 in the diagnosis of cancer in the body or tail of the pancreas.
The data were collected by reviewing the hospital files, radiological reports,
and surgical reports of these patients.
