THE MEDIAN SURVIVAL TIME OF PANCREATIC CANCER PATIENTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is an intractable disease, and its mortality rates are approximately identical to its incidence ones. Getting its early diagnosis is quite challenging and subsequently, it contributes to one of the reasons for poor survival figures. The retrospective record review of radiologically or histo-pathologically confirmed primary pancreatic cancer cases registered at State hospitals in Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu from 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2018 were performed. The cumulative survival probabilities were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method while the log-rank test was applied to determine the differences in overall survival among groups. The overall median survival time was 9.37 (95% CI:8.53, 10.21) months since the diagnosis. The median survival times were significantly shorter in those aged >60 years, in Chinese subjects, those with smoking or alcohol consumption history, patients with some comorbidities, those presented with some signs and symptoms at the time of diagnosis.  Moreover, the median survival time was found to be different based on the type of the pancreatic malignancy and staging of the disease. It was also found that the survival time was significantly longer in those who underwent surgery, those who received radiotherapy or chemotherapy whereas it was significantly shorter in those who took best supportive treatment. The disparities of overall survival time were observed depending on their socio-demographic data and clinical features at the time of diagnosis. The results of this study may serve as a solid foundation to develop robust and meaningful prediction modelling for the prognosis of pancreatic cancer.