Background/aim: Patients with metastases from pancreas cancer benefit from individualized care, including radiotherapy for symptom control. To administer the optimal radiation therapy, it is important to understand a patient's prognosis.
Patients and methods: Seven variables were analyzed regarding their relationship with survival: age, gender, Karnofsky performance score (KPS), number of metastatic sites, interval from diagnosis of pancreatic cancer to irradiation of metastases, type of irradiated metastasis, and radiation dose.
Results: On univariate analysis, survival was positively associated with age ≤ 67 years (p=0.045), KPS >70 (p<0.001), and involvement of only one metastatic site (p=0.013). A longer interval between diagnosis and irradiation of metastases showed a trend for better survival (p=0.077). On multivariate analysis, age [risk ratio (RR)=4.29; p=0.004], KPS (RR=1.95; p=0.020), number of metastatic sites (RR=2.20; p=0.009) and interval to irradiation (RR=4.41; p=0.005) achieved significance.
Conclusion: The present study identified four independent predictors of survival in patients with pancreatic cancer irradiated for metastasis and thus contributes to treatment optimization.
Keywords: Pancreatic cancer; expected survival; irradiation; metastasis; predictive factors.
Copyright© 2015 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.