Objectives: The aim of this cohort study was to investigate clinical outcome and prognostic factors after resection for ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head.
Methods: 134 patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing curative resection (R0) between 1997 and 2002 were included in this study. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to examine factors affecting clinical outcome and recurrence.
Results: Surgical procedures consisted of 58 (43.3%) extended pancreaticoduodenectomies, 47 (35.1%) pancreaticoduodenectomies and 29 (21.6%) pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomies. Results showed that 81.3% patients had a recurrence during the study period, mainly retroperitoneal recurrence in combination with distant metastasis (53.7%). The median survival time was 24.67 months. The 1-, 3- and 5-year overall disease-free survival rates for the study population were 52, 23 and 19%, respectively.
Conclusions: The results from proportional hazard analysis suggest that preoperative abdominal and/or back pain, tumor size >2 cm, lymph node involvement and vascular invasion were significant predictors for poor survival.
Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.