Background and objectives: The role of adjuvant radiotherapy for resected pancreatic cancer remains controversial. The aim is to demonstrate a survival benefit of adjuvant radiotherapy for resected pancreatic cancer.
Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database was used to identify patients who were diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas from 2004 to 2009, underwent cancer-directed surgery, and received either no radiotherapy or postoperative radiotherapy. Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses using a propensity score matching were conducted to determine the effect of adjuvant radiotherapy on overall and disease-specific survival.
Results: A total of 2,532 patients were included. The median overall and disease-specific survival were significantly longer in the adjuvant radiotherapy group than in no radiotherapy group (overall survival, 20 months vs. 16 months, respectively; disease-specific survival, 22 months vs. 18 months, respectively; both P < 0.0001). In multivariable Cox proportional analyses, adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with a significant overall and disease-specific survival benefit (both P < 0.001).
Conclusions: There is a survival benefit of adjuvant radiotherapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer. We concluded that adjuvant radiotherapy might be included in the standard treatment for resected pancreatic cancer.
Keywords: pancreatic neoplasm; population-based; survival.
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.