Chemotherapy and radiotherapy (CRT) was independently associated with improved overall survival (OS) after the resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, particularly among patients with R1 resection and pN1 disease. This according to a study of 6,165 patients with pT1-3NO-1MO pancreatic adenocarcinoma, including 2,334 treated with chemotherapy (CT) and 3,831 treated with CRT. Researchers found that compared with patients treated with CT alone:

• CRT was associated with improved OS (22.3 vs 20.0 months), 5-year OS (19.6% vs 16.5%), and with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.893.

• CRT remained associated with improved OS after propensity score matching (HR, 0.851).

• Subset analysis showed that CRT was associated with improved OS among patients with pT3 (HR, 0.892) or pN1 disease (HR, 0.856) and both R0 resection (HR, 0.901), and R1 resection (HR, 0.842).

Citation: Rutter CE, Park HS, Corso CD, et al. Addition of radiotherapy to adjuvant chemotherapy is associated with improved overall survival in resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma: an analysis of the National Cancer Data Base. [Published online ahead of print August 17, 2015]. Cancer. doi: 10.1002/cncr.29652.