Clinical behavior and prognostic factors of periampullary adenocarcinoma

The authors evaluated the outcome and potential prognostic factors of 60 patients with surgically resected periampullary tumors.

Periampullary carcinomas exhibit different clinical behaviors according to their site of origin. There are no prognostic factors for deciding the type of surgery to be used or for choosing patients with tumors that have a poor prognosis for adjuvant treatment.

A retrospective review was performed of 15 clinical and pathologic variables encountered among 60 patients with periampullary tumors. Tumors were divided into four groups according to their site of origin. Kaplan-Meier survival curves of the four groups were plotted and differences were evaluated with the log-rank test. Cox's proportional hazards model was used to test for separate and combined independent predictors of disease-free survival.

Twenty-nine ampullary carcinomas, 20 ductal pancreatic carcinomas, 7 distal common bile duct carcinomas, and 4 carcinomas of the periampullary duodenum were found. Five-year disease-free survival was 43%, 0%, 0%, and 75%, respectively. According to the Cox analysis, absence of neural invasion and use of adjuvant chemotherapy were significant factors for longer survival of patients with ampullary tumors. Lymphatic invasion was related to a shorter survival in patients with pancreatic carcinoma.

Five-year disease-free survival of patients with periampullary tumors is related to tumor type. Prognosis was better for ampullary tumors if neural invasion was absent and if adjuvant chemotherapy was used. Lymphatic invasion was associated with a shorter recurrence-free survival among patients with pancreatic carcinoma.