TOPLINE:
METHODOLOGY:
- Despite therapeutic advances, survival among patients with unresectable and/or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has not markedly improved in recent years.
- In the current analysis, researchers evaluated whether treatment sequence could affect survival outcomes in this patient population.
- To this end , researchers conducted a single institution, retrospective analysis of patients who received different lines of treatment between January 2015 and December 2021.
- The most common first-line therapy was nab-paclitaxel plus S-1 (58%), followed by FOLFIRINOX (10%), nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (8%), gemcitabine alone (7%), gemcitabine plus oxaliplatin (6%); second-line therapies, in order of frequency, included gemcitabine combination therapy (48%), nab-paclitaxel combination therapy (19%), FOLFIRINOX (10%), and gemcitabine alone (7%); third-line treatments consisted of FOLFIRINOX (31%), irinotecan or oxaliplatin combination therapy (23%), immunotherapy (19%), and gemcitabine combination therapy (10%).
TAKEAWAY:
- Overall, progression occurred in 90% of patients, and the median overall survival was 12.0 months, with only 48% of patients able to start a third-line therapy.
- The researchers focused on three common therapy sequences: nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine or nab-paclitaxel combination therapy as first-line and FOLFIRINOX as second-line (line A); nab-paclitaxel combination therapy to gemcitabine combination therapy to FOLFIRINOX (line B); and nab-paclitaxel combination therapy, to gemcitabine combination therapy, to oxaliplatin or irinotecan combination therapy (line C).
- Overall, the researchers observed a median overall survival of 14 months among patients receiving line A and C sequences and 18 months with line B.
- Patients receiving line B therapy demonstrated a 52% lower risk for death compared with those receiving line A treatment (hazard ratio [HR], 0.48; P = .018) and a 75% reduced risk for death compared with those on the line C sequence (HR, 0.25; P = .040).
IN PRACTICE:
“Our study provides real-world evidence for the effectiveness of different treatment sequences and underscores the [impact of] treatment sequences on survival outcome when considering the entire management in advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma,” the authors concluded.
SOURCE:
The study, led by Guanghai Dai, MD, from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, was published in BMC Cancer on January 12, 2024.
LIMITATIONS:
The study was a single-center, retrospective analysis.
DISCLOSURES:
The paper was funded by Beijing natural science foundation. The authors did not declare any relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.