Serum ferritin predicted prognosis in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer

The present study evaluated the value of serum ferritin (SF) level for the prognosis of patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). A total of 79 patients with LAPC treated by chemoradiotherapy were reviewed retrospectively. Pretreatment and post-treatment levels of SF were obtained. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 11.8 months; median overall survival was 18.3 months. A total of 36 patients with elevated SF level showed significantly worse overall survival and PFS than patients with low SF level (p = 0.002 and p = 0.004, respectively). In total, 17 patients showed normal SF level after chemoradiotherapy, and their median PFS was 3.2 months longer than that of patients whose SF levels were not restored after chemoradiotherapy. SF may serve as a valuable tool to assess prognosis and monitor chemoradiotherapy response in patients with LAPC.