Survival Rates of Pancreatic and Periampullary Adenocarcinoma Patients with Oligometastasis Surgically Managed at UP-PGH: A Ten-year Single-center Experience

Abstract

Background. Metastatic pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma is associated with a poor prognosis, with a life expectancy of less than one year at diagnosis, a 5-year survival rate of only 1-2%, and a median survival of 3 to 6 months. In the Philippines, pancreatic cancer is the 14th most common cancer and the 8th leading cause of cancer-related death, with over 153,000 cases and 92,600 deaths reported in 2020. Current literature suggests that in carefully selected patients, synchronous resection of primary pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma with liver metastases can yield favorable surgical outcomes with low morbidity and mortality. However, survival outcome data for such cases within the Philippine population remain limited.

Objective. To evaluate survival rates in patients with pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma with oligometastasis who underwent pancreatic resection and metastasectomy at the Philippine General Hospital from 2011 to 2021.

Methods. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data collected from the Department of Surgery’s electronic medical records, cross-referenced with the Philippine Statistics Authority’s death registry. Inclusion criteria included patients aged 19 and above with histologically confirmed pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma with three or fewer metastases. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to determine overall survival rates.

Results. Of the patients reviewed, 75% were female, with a median age of diagnosis of 60 years. Tumor locations included the pancreatic head (50% of cases), ampullary region (37.5%), and pancreatic body/tail (12.5%). The 1-year survival rate was 62.5%, the 2-year survival rate was 25%, and the median overall survival was 17.3 months, with a range from 7 to 28.8 months.

Conclusion. The findings suggest that synchronous resection of primary tumors and metastases may offer survival benefits for selected patients with metastatic pancreatic and periampullary cancers. However, further prospective clinical trials are necessary to confirm the potential survival advantage of this approach in a broader population.