Treatment Patterns and Survival in Locally Advanced or Metastatic Biliary Tract Cancer Using SEER Medicare Data

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Cancer Research
• Clinical Therapeutics

Background:

• Biliary tract cancer (BTC) is a rare, aggressive malignancy often diagnosed at advanced stages.
• Current first-line treatment for advanced BTC is gemcitabine plus cisplatin, but a standard second-line therapy is lacking.
• The evolving treatment landscape includes therapies targeting actionable mutations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize treatment patterns in patients with locally advanced or metastatic BTC.
• To analyze overall survival in relation to treatment strategies for advanced BTC.
• To identify factors influencing survival in advanced biliary tract cancer patients.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Medicare database (2010-2015).
• Inclusion of 2063 patients with primary advanced or metastatic BTC.
• Analysis of patient characteristics, therapy lines, and overall survival.

Main Results:

• Only 45.5% of patients initiated systemic therapy within 90 days of diagnosis.
• Death was the most common event after first-line treatment.
• Median survival varied significantly, from 5.0 months (second-line fluoropyrimidine) to 9.7 months (second-line gemcitabine).

Conclusions:

• Overall survival for advanced BTC is poor and influenced by various demographic and clinical factors.
• Treatment patterns for second-line therapy in advanced BTC are inconsistent due to the absence of a consensus standard.
• Further research is needed to establish effective second-line treatment strategies for advanced biliary tract cancer.