Characteristics, therapy and outcome in an unselected and prospectively registered cohort of pancreatic cancer patients

Abstract Purpose Pancreatic cancer (PC) is associated with a dismal prognosis. Few studies have examined characteristics and outcome in an unselected population-based cohort of PC patients. Therefore, we investigated patient baseline characteristics, therapy choices and survival in a complete cohort of patients with PC. Methods All cases diagnosed with PC between 2007 and 2009 in the Region of Southern Denmark (pop: 1,200,000) were prospectively registered. Patient characteristics including performance status, information about haematology, liver function and therapy were retrieved from patient charts, and used to compare differently treated and untreated groups. Results Six-hundred-eighteen cases were registered as PC; 25 of which did not have adenocarcinomas. Patients were divided in 3 clinical groups based on initial therapy; group 1: resection ( n = 64), group 2: chemotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy ( n = 191), group 3: no tumour directed therapy ( n = 324). Median survival (mOS) (95% confidence interval (CI)) in the three groups was 25.7 months (18–30), 8.1 months (7.0–9.5) and 1.1 months (1.0–1.3) respectively. Three percent of patients participated in clinical trials. An evaluation of baseline factors prognostic value suggested that treated patients differed significantly from non-treated patients. Conclusion This study reports survival in treated groups comparable to results obtained from clinical trials with highly selected patients. However the majority of patients with PC do not receive cancer directed therapy. This group was significantly different in several baseline factors, which could suggest a different biology. Improving the outcome of PC patients calls for research into the large group of untreated patients, as only a minority of patients receive cancer directed therapy.