Prognostic factors after surgical resection for pancreatic carcinoma

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Abstract
Background and Objectives Surgical resection offers the only potential cure for pancreatic carcinoma. Several recent series have reported an encouraging increase in 5-year survival rate exceeding 20% and have emphasized the importance of patient selection based on reproducible prognostic factors. The impact on survival of demographic, intraoperative, and histopatologic factors are investigated in this study. Methods Seventy-three patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, treated at the Department of Surgery of the Catholic University of Rome during 1988–1998, were retrospectively analyzed. Survival data were reviewed, and potential prognostic factors were compared statistically by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results There was no operative mortality, and the morbidity rate was 37%. Actuarial overall and disease-specific survival rates for all 73 patients were, respectively, 27% and 31% at 3 years and 13% and 21% at 5 years, with a median survival time of 16 months. T stage and nodal status significantly affected survival according to univariate analysis (P = 0.0017 and 0.04). An impact on survival, even if not of statistical significance, was shown for other pathologic or intraoperative factors. Conclusions T and nodal stage are the strongest independent predictors of survival. Limited intraoperative transfusion, reduced operative time, and clear margins also may play a role, which requires further confirmation in a larger series. J. Surg. Oncol. 2000:74:36–40.