Background Patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPDAC) are usually no candidates for
surgical resection. However, the role of conversion surgery for mPDAC patients with
exceptional response to preoperative chemotherapy is unclear.
Methods Patients undergoing surgical exploration following preoperative chemotherapy for
mPDAC between 2006 to 2019 were identified from a prospectively maintained database.
Data on patient demographics, multidisciplinary treatments, pathology results, and
postoperative outcomes were analyzed. Uni- and multivariate survival analyses were
performed to identify prognostic factors of survival.
Results 320 patients underwent surgical exploration after preoperative chemotherapy with
Gemcitabine-based regimens (46.9%), FOLFIRINOX (43.8%) or combination therapies (9.3%).
After a median duration of preoperative chemotherapy of 6.1 months, 110 patients (34.4%)
underwent resection of the primary tumor and metastatic sites and 210 patients (65.6%)
underwent exploration only. In the resected subgroup, 45 patients (40.1%) had complete
pathological response of metastases (ypM0) and 65 patients (59.9%) had residual metastases
(ypM1). Resection was significantly associated with lower preoperative CA19-9 levels
and administration of preoperative FOLFIRINOX treatment. In addition, ypM0 patients
had a longer duration of preoperative chemotherapy. Median overall survival after
resection was 25.5 months in ypM0, 11.3 months in ypM1 and 8.0 months in patients
without resection with 2-year overall survival rates of 58.7%, 24.7% and 3.9%, respectively
(p< 0.0001). Additional adjuvant chemotherapy prolonged survival in the resected cohort
(21.8 vs 11.4 months, p=0.027) as well as in the subgroups of ypM0 (29.1 vs 24.4 months)
and ypM1 (16.8 vs 7.3 months), respectively.
Conclusion In patients with mPDAC and complete pathological response in metastasis after preoperative
chemotherapy surgical resection is associated with encouraging survival outcomes.
Surgical exploration should therefore be offered to mPDAC patients with exceptional
response to chemotherapy with the aim to achieve ypM0 resection. Adjuvant chemotherapy
appears to provide an additional survival advantage.