CHICAGO – Preoperative chemotherapy improves outcomes in patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, preliminary findings from the phase 3 PREOPANC-1 trial suggest.
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Overall survival in 127 patients randomized to immediate surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy was 13.7 months vs. 17.1 months in 119 patients randomized to receive preoperative chemoradiotherapy and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, Geertjan van Tienhoven, MD, PhD, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The difference did not quite reach statistical significance, but final analysis requires an additional 26 events, Dr. van Tienhoven of Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam explained in a video interview at the meeting.
Other differences between the groups, which included disease-free survival, local control, and metastasis-free survival, did differ significantly in favor of preoperative chemotherapy, he said.
Of note, 72% and 62% of patients in the immediate surgery and preoperative chemoradiotherapy groups, respectively, underwent resection and a greater proportion of patients in the latter group achieved microscopically complete resection, he said (63% vs. 31%).
Should these results hold up in the final analysis, particularly if the difference in overall survival reaches statistical significance, “then this is a proof of principle and practice-changing trial,” Dr. van Tienhoven said.
Dr. van Tienhoven reported having no disclosures.
SOURCE: van Tienhoven et al. ASCO 2108, Abstract LBA4002.