Ilkay Tugba Unek1, Tarkan Unek2, Dogan Koca3, Tulay Akman4, Tarik Salman5, Hulya Ellidokuz6, Olcun Umit Unal7, Ilhan Oztop1, Funda Obuz8, Ugur Yilmaz9
1Department of Medical Oncology, Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
2Department of General Surgery, Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
3Department of Medical Oncology, Medical Park Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey.
4Department of Medical Oncology, Private Ege City Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
5Department of Medical Oncology, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
6Department of Preventive Oncology, Dokuz Eylul University, Institute of Oncology, Izmir, Turkey.
7Department of Medical Oncology, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
8Department of Radiology, Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
9Department of Medical Oncology, Medical Park Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
Summary
Purpose: Despite the developments in diagnostic techniques and therapeutic methods in recent years, the prognosis of advanced pancreatic cancer is still very poor. The purpose of our study was to research the prognostic importance of easily-accessible clinical and laboratory parameters used in clinical practice at the time of diagnosis for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, to create a prognostic index model via the independent prognostic factors that will be identified and to separate patients into risk groups.
Methods: This study included 118 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer the medical records of whose were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: The median overall survival of patients was 4.4 months, with 6-month and 12-month overall survival rates 40% and 22%. Weight loss, low albumin level, liver metastasis, presence of ascites and not receiving chemotherapy were statistically significantly associated with shorter survival (p<0.05). The regression coefficients obtained for these 5 variables were used to calculate the prognostic index. Patients were divided into two groups as prognostic index value ≤2 (low-risk group) and prognostic index value >2 (high-risk group). The median overall survival in the low-risk group was 8.8 months, while the median overall survival in the high-risk group was 2.6 months (log-rank p<0.001).
Conclusions: Prognostic index models created with easily accessible clinical and laboratory parameters for advanced pancreatic cancer, as in our study, may aid clinicians in daily clinical practice to divide patients into risk groups, determining survival, and creating the most appropriate treatment protocols.
Key words: ascites, chemotherapy, liver metastasis, pancreatic cancer, prognostic index, weight loss.
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