Clinicopathological predictive factors in long-term survivors who underwent surgery for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: A single-center propensity score matched analysis.

Background: Long-term survivors (LTSs) after pancreatic resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represent a particular subgroup of patients that remains poorly understood. The primary endpoint was to identify clinicopathological factors associated with LTSs after pancreatic resection for PDAC.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients who had undergone pancreatic resection for PDAC. Long survival was defined as a patient who survived at least 60 months. Patients were divided in two groups: LTS and short-term survivor (STS). The two groups were compared regarding epidemiological, clinical, and pathological data. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to reduce selection bias with a 1:2 ratio. Multivariable analysis of significative predictive factors before and after PSM was done.

Results: Three hundred and thirty-three patients were enrolled: 46 (13.8%) in the LTS group and 287 (86.2%) in the STS group. Using PSM, 138 patients were analyzed: 46 in the LTS group and 92 in the STS group. At the multivariate analysis of significative predictive factor after PSM, adjuvant chemotherapy, well-differentiated tumors (G1), and R0 status were related to long-term survival (p = 0.052, 0.010 and p = 0.019, respectively). Kaplan-Meier survival curves confirmed these data. Additionally, Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that pathological stage I was a favorable factor with respect to stage II, III, and IV.

Conclusions: Long-term survival is possible after pancreatic cancer resection, even if in a small percentage. Significant predictors of long-term survival are administration of adjuvant chemotherapy, American Join Committee on Cancer stage I, well-differentiated tumor (G1), and R0 resection.