Retrospective analysis of 119 small bowel adenocarcinoma in Chinese patients

Small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) is a rare occurrence and few studies have addressed it adequately, especially in China.

Clinicopathological features, survival and prognostic analysis were retrospectively done in SBA patients admitted between 2001 and 2011 in the People's Liberation Army General Hospital.

The study included 68 men and 51 women with a median age of 56.5 year. Tumors mainly occurred in duodenum (93.3%). Abdominal pain was the most frequent symptom (36.8%). Patients (30.3%) who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy had an increased, but not significant, median overall survival (MOS) rate compared to those who did not receive chemotherapy (37 vs 35 months, p = .324). One year disease free survival rate was higher in patients receiving postoperative chemotherapy (83.3% vs 71.1%). Patients survived longer in the curative surgery group (median survival time of 49.0 months) than those in the palliative group (7.0 months) (p < .001). Node-negative patients survived longer than node-positive patients (median OS: 49.0 vs 21.0 months, p = .004). Depth (95% CI: 1.013-1.517, p = .037), node involvement (95% CI: 1.234-3.890, p = .007), palliative surgery (95% CI, 2.998-10.555, p = .0005), and the site of tumor (95% CI: 0.052-0.970, p = .045) were independent predictors of OS in a multivariate analysis.

SBA is rare and there is lack of obvious clinical manifestations. Depth, node involvement, palliative surgery, and the site of tumor are associated with a poor prognosis. Our analysis highlights the need for further studies to find out the exact role of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in these patients.