Potential contribution of preoperative neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy on margin-negative resection in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.

Background: Margin-negative pancreatectomy provides only chance to cure pancreatic cancer. However, borderline resectable pancreatic cancer (BRPCa) has the risk of incomplete palliative resection.
Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 32 patients with BRPCa who underwent a pancreatectomy following preoperative chemoradiation therapy (CCRT (+)/Px group) and compared these patients with those with resectable pancreatic cancer (RPCa) who underwent pancreatectomy without preoperative CCRT (CCRT (-)/Px group, n=104).
Results: Eighteen patients (56.2%) showed more than 50% significant pathological response to CCRT. The degree of pathological responses showed a positive relationship between final pT stage (p=0.075). More frequent vascular resection (p<0.001), transfusion (p=0.076), and longer operation time were observed in the CCRT(+)/Px group. However, similar R0 resection rates (p=0.272), lower pT stage (p<0.001), smaller number of metastastic lymph nodes (p=0.002), and lower incidence of lymph node metastasis (p=0.032) were noted in the CCRT(+)/Px group. The overall disease-specific survival were similar (median survival, 30.5 months (95% CI; 23.6-37.4) vs. 26.3 months (95% CI; 15.9-36.7), p=0.709), and no statistical differences in cancer recurrence risks were noted between the two groups (p=0.505).
Conclusion: Pancreatectomy following preoperative neoadjuvant CCRT can be a potential strategy for margin-negative resection in BRPCa patients.