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Updated: Jan 2, 2026
An Orthotopic Resectional Mouse Model of Pancreatic Cancer
Published on: September 24, 2020
Lung recurrence and its therapeutic strategy in patients with pancreatic cancer
Hiroshi Kurahara1, Kosei Maemura1, Yuko Mataki1
1Department of Digestive Surgery, Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Kagoshima University, 8-35-1, Sakuragaoka Kagoshima, 890-8520, Japan.
Background:
/Objectives: The lung is a major metastatic site of pancreatic cancer (PC). We aimed to assess the features and prognosis of patients with PC according to the recurrence pattern and the effect of resection of recurrent lung lesion.
Methods:
We enrolled 168 PC patients who had undergone macroscopically curative resection. All resected lung tumors were evaluated immunohistochemically for expressions of thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) and napsin A.
Results:
The most common site of first recurrence was the liver and local site, followed by the lung, peritoneum, and lymph node. Lung recurrence was observed significantly later than was liver recurrence. The median survival time (MST) after recurrence in patients with first recurrence in the lung was significantly longer than MST in patients with first recurrence in the liver (15.2 months vs 5.2 months, p = 0.039). Seven patients with lung recurrence underwent resection of the recurrent lesion. Surgical resection of single metastasis limited to the lung showed favorable overall survival after recurrence (MST = 36.5 months). Patients with single metastasis limited to the lung showed significantly lower value of FDG-PET SUVmax of the primary pancreatic tumor.
Conclusions:
Patients with first recurrence in the lung showed better prognosis than did patients with first recurrence in the liver. Single metastasis limited to the lung could benefit from surgical resection and was significantly associated with lower FDG-PET SUVmax of the primary pancreatic tumor.
