[Long-Term Survivors after Resection for Primary Pancreatic Carcinoma Stage IV]

We discuss the prognosis of cases of Stage IV pancreatic carcinoma with distant metastases(7th Edition of General Rules for the Study of Pancreatic Cancer, Japan Pancreas Society)for which any treatment was performed at our hospital. Fiftythree patients were radiographically or pathologically diagnosed as having Stage IV pancreatic carcinoma with definite prognosis, and received treatments, includingsurg ery or chemotherapy, at our department. Twenty-two cases showed more metastases, and celiac artery or superior mesenteric artery invasion was suspected in 28 cases. The 5-year survival rate of all 53 cases was 3.8%, and the median survival time(MST)was 6.2 months. The MST in the palliative surgery cases was 6.7 months, and that in the cases given best supportive care(BSC)was only 1.9 months. There were no 2-year survivors in the group given chemotherapy without any other treatments and in the group given BSC alone, while the longest survival time and MST were 66.9 and 31.3 months(p<0.001), respectively, in the 10 patients treated by primary tumor resection. There was only 1 patient who showed relapse-free survival. Primary site resection and chemotherapy over 4 cycles was revealed as an independent prognostic factor by multivariable analysis. Patients with Stage IV pancreatic carcinoma have a poor prognosis. However, the possibility of achievingimproved prognosis was noted with combined-modality therapy, including aggressive resection in limited cases showinga good response to chemotherapy or cases in whom preoperative metastasis assessment was difficult.