ObjectivesThe prognosis of people with pancreatic cancer is extremely unfavorable. However, the prognostic factors remain largely undefined. We aimed to perform comprehensive analyses of clinicopathologic characteristics, laboratory parameters, and treatment protocols for exploring their role as prognostic factors of pancreatic cancer.MethodsPatients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and hospitalized at the China National Cancer Center between April 2006 and May 2016 were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. Clinicopathologic characteristics, laboratory parameters, and treatment protocols were compared among patients at different stages of the disease. The association between these factors and overall survival (OS) was analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model.ResultsThe present study included 1,433 consecutive patients with pancreatic cancer. Median OS was 10.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 9.8–11.3 months), with 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates of 43.7%, 14.8%, and 8.8%, respectively. Cox multivariate analysis findings identified the following factors as independent predictors of OS: gender (female vs male, hazard ratio 0.72, 95% CI [0.54–0.95]); elevated total bilirubin (TBil; 1.82, 1.34–2.47); elevated carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9; 1.72, 1.17–2.54); tumor being located in pancreatic body and tail (1.52, 1.10–2.10); advanced T stage (T3-4 vs T1-2, 1.62, 1.15–2.27); lymph node metastasis (1.57, 1.20–2.07); distant metastasis (1.59, 1.12–2.27); the presence of surgical resection (0.53, 0.34–0.81); and the presence of systemic chemotherapy (0.62, 0.45–0.82).ConclusionsBeing male, elevated TBil and carcinoembryonic antigen, tumor being located in pancreatic body and tail, advanced T stage, lymph node and distant metastasis, the absence of surgical resection, and the absence of systematic chemotherapy were associated with worse OS in patients with pancreatic cancer.

The effect of perioperative acupuncture on accelerating gastrointestinal function recovery has been reported in colorectal surgery and distal gastrectomy (Billroth-II). However, the evidence in pancreatectomy and other gastrectomy is still limited. A prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted between May 2018 and August 2019. Consecutive patients undergoing pancreatectomy or gastrectomy in our hospital were randomly assigned to the electroacupuncture (EA) group and the control group. The patients in the EA group received transcutaneous EA on Bai-hui (GV20), Nei-guan (PC6), Tian-shu (ST25), and Zu-san-li (ST36) once a day in the afternoon, and the control group received sham EA. Primary outcomes were the time to first flatus and time to first defecation. In total, 461 patients were randomly assigned to the groups, and 385 were analyzed finally (EA group, n = 201; control group, n = 184). Time to first flatus (3.0 ± 0.7 vs 4.2 ± 1.0, P < 0.001 ) and first defecation (4.2 ± 0.9 vs 5.4 ± 1.2, P < 0.001 ) in the EA group were significantly shorter than those in the control group. Of patients undergoing pancreatectomy, those undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) surgery benefitted from EA in time to first flatus ( P < 0.001 ) and first defecation ( P < 0.001 ), while those undergoing distal pancreatectomy did not ( P flatus = 0.157 , P defecation = 0.007 ) completely. Of patients undergoing gastrectomy, those undergoing total gastrectomy and distal gastrectomy (Billroth-II) benefitted from EA ( P < 0.001 ), as did those undergoing proximal gastrectomy ( P = 0.015 ). Patients undergoing distal gastrectomy (Billroth-I) benefitted from EA in time to first defecation ( P = 0.012 ) but not flatus ( P = 0.051 ). The time of parenteral nutrition, hospital stay, and time to first independent walk in the EA group were shorter than those in the control group. No severe EA complications were reported. EA was safe and effective in accelerating postoperative gastrointestinal function recovery. Patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy, IORT surgery, total gastrectomy, proximal gastrectomy, or distal gastrectomy (Billroth-II) could benefit from EA. This trial is registered with NCT03291574.

The survival prediction for patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma by using the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system remains limited. A nomogram is a efficient tool that can be used to predict the outcome of patients with various types of malignancy. The present study aimed to develop and validate a nomogram for patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma. A total of 368 patients (258 in the training set and 110 in the validation set) who underwent pancreatic adenocarcinoma resection at the China National Cancer Center between January 2008 and October 2018 were included in the present study. The nomogram was established according to the results from Cox multivariate analysis, which was validated by discrimination and calibration. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was determined to assess the accuracy of survival predictions. The results from multivariate analysis in the training set demonstrated that blood transfusion, T-stage, N-stage, tumor grade, capsule invasion, carbohydrate antigen 199, neutrophil percentage and adjuvant therapy were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (OS; all P<0.05). Subsequently, a nomogram predicting the 1-year, 3-year and 5-year OS rates, with favorable calibration, was established based on the independent prognostic factors. The concordance indices of the nomogram were higher compared with the TNM staging system in both training and validation sets. Furthermore, a clear risk stratification system based on the nomogram was used to classify patients into the three following groups: Low-risk group (≤168), moderate-risk group (168-255) and high-risk group (>255). The risk stratification system demonstrated an improved ability in predicting the 1-year, 3-year and 5-year OS rates compared with the TNM system (AUC, 0.758, 0.709 and 0.672 vs. AUC, 0.614, 0.604 and 0.568; all P<0.05). The present study developed and validated a nomogram for patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma by including additional independent prognostic factors, including tumor marker, immune index, surgical information, pathological data and adjuvant therapy. Taken together, the results from the present study indicated an improved performance of the nomogram in predicting the prognosis of patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma compared with the TNM staging system.

Background. The 8th American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) outperforms its previous version in reproducibility but not in survival discrimination. Tumor grade, an indicator of the aggressive biology of PDAC, has been suggested as a reliable prognostic factor. This study aimed to construct a novel staging system with greater prognostication for resectable PDAC by incorporating tumor grade into the 8th AJCC system. Methods. A total of 9966 patients with resectable PDAC from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database were randomly separated into training and interval validation sets. Another 324 patients from our center were included as an external validation set. We proposed a novel staging system by sorting the substages yielded by a combination of T, N, and tumor grade based on their overall survival (OS) and grouping them into several stages. Prognostic homogeneity and discrimination were determined using the likelihood ratio χ2 and the linear trend χ2 test, respectively. Prognostic accuracies were evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC). Results. Using the 8th AJCC system, the prognosis of patients within the same stage was quite heterogeneous among different substages. The multivariate Cox model identified the tumor grade (hazard ratio 1.333, 95% confidence interval 1.250–1.423, p<0.001) was an independent prognostic factor of the OS. In the training set, the AUC, homogeneity, and discriminatory ability were superior for the novel staging system than for the 8th AJCC system (0.642 vs. 0.615, 403.4 vs. 248.6, and 335.1 vs. 218.0, respectively). Similar results were observed in the internal and external validation sets. Conclusions. The novel staging system incorporating tumor grade into the 8th AJCC system was associated with better prognostic accuracy, homogeneity, and discriminatory ability among resectable PDAC patients. Moreover, the novel staging system also allowed possibly adjuvant chemotherapy decisions.