Gemcitabine-Based Regional Intra-Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy in Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

The present study was carried out to investigate the prognostic factors in patients who received intra-arterial infusion for advanced pancreatic cancer. In addition, the detailed procedure of intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy was described. A total of 354 patients with advanced unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma were recruited from January 2012, to April 2015, at Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Demographic and clinic characteristics of the patients were extracted from electronic medical records. Restricted cubic spline was used to assess the nonliner regression between baseline CA19-9 value and overall survival. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the association between overall survival and clinical characteristics. Of all 354 included patients, 230 (65%) were male (male/female ratio = 1.8), and 72 (20%) patients were diagnosed with detectable distant metastases. Pretreatment CA19-9 value of patients with metastases was significantly higher as compared to those with locally advanced cancer (median: 922.30 vs 357.00 U/mL, P = 0.0090). Totally 274 patients completed 1 cycle of intra-arterial infusion, whereas 80 patients received 2 or more cycles of the chemotherapy. For all the 354 patients, median OS was 7.0 months (95% CI: 6.0, 8.0 months) with a 6-, 12-, and 18-month survival rate of 0.48, 0.28, and 0.18, respectively. The median OS of patients, who received 1 cycle of intra-arterial infusion therapy, was 6.0 months (95% CI: 5.0, 8.0 months), which was similar to 7.0 months (95% CI: 6.0, 9.0 months) in patients who received 2 or more cycles. Restricted cubic spline revealed the nonline association between baseline CA19-9 and prognosis. The Cox proportional hazard model showed that age, CA19-9 baseline, CA19-9 value, and tumor location were significantly associated with the OS. In conclusion, the gemcitabine-based RIAC presented a potential treatment method for advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Young age, pretreatment CA19-9 value <1000 U/mL, and tumor located at the head of pancreas indicated better response to the regional intra-arterial chemotherapy and better overall survival.