Background: The effects of gemcitabine on postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy were evaluated in patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer. The results were compared with those of our historical control patients treated with surgery alone.
Patients and methods: Nineteen patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer who had pancreatic resection with curative intent during the 5 years up to February 2003 were enrolled in this study. Nine cases received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy with biweekly administration of 1,000 mg/m(2) gemcitabine, while the remaining 10 cases underwent surgery without any adjuvant chemotherapy.
Results: The chemotherapy was well tolerated with only mild symptomatic and hematologic toxicities. The disease-specific cumulative survival rates of the chemotherapy and surgery-alone groups were 86 and 70% at 1 year, and 50 and 12% at 2 years, with a median survival of 20 and 14 months, respectively (p = 0.0255). The disease-free interval was improved, and the occurrence of hepatic metastasis was reduced in the chemotherapy group compared with the surgery-alone group.
Conclusions: Adjuvant systemic chemotherapy utilizing gemcitabine was feasible with acceptable adverse effects, and showed some survival benefit in stage IV pancreatic cancer patients. Further investigation into gemcitabine-based combination therapies is warranted.
Copyright 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.