Impact of Palliative Interventions on Survival of Patients with Unresected Pancreatic Cancer: Review of the 2010-2016 National Cancer Database

Introduction Palliative interventions (PI) are offered to patients with pancreatic cancer with the aim of enhancing quality of life and improving overall survival (OS). The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of PI on survival amongst patients with unresected pancreatic cancer. Methods Patients with stage I-IV unresected pancreatic adenocarcinoma were identified using the 2010-2016 National Cancer Database. The cohort was stratified by PI received: palliative surgery (PS), radiation therapy (RT), chemotherapy (CT), pain management (PM), or a combination (COM) of the preceding. Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test was used to compare and estimate OS based on the PI received. A multivariate proportional hazards model was utilized to identify predictors of survival. Results 25,995 patients were identified, of which 24.3% received PS, 7.7% RT, 40.8% CT, 16.6% PM, and 10.6% COM. The median OS was 4.9 months, with stage III patients having the highest and stage IV the lowest OS (7.8 vs 4.0 months). Across all stages, PM yielded the lowest median OS and CT the highest (P < .001). Despite this, the stage IV cohort was the only group in which CT (81%) accounted for the largest proportion of PI received (P < .001). Although all PI were identified as positive predictors of survival on multivariate analysis, CT had the strongest association (HR .43; 95% CI, .55-.60, P = .001). Conclusion PI offers a survival advantage to patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Further studies to examine the observed limited use of CT in earlier disease stages are warranted.