Background: The aim of this study was to investigate prognostic factors of survival for patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer treated with nafamostat mesilate combined with gemcitabine chemotherapy.
Patients and methods: The study included 41 patients who were diagnosed with unresectable pancreatic cancer and eligible for our clinical study of nafamostat mesilate, combined with gemcitabine chemotherapy for unresectable pancreatic cancer between February 2007 and November 2010 at Jikei University Hospital. We retrospectively investigated the relation between patients' characteristics and overall survival using univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: In univariate analysis, absence of jaundice (p=0.0365), presence of ascites with or without histological diagnosis of carcinomatosis (p=0.0042), lymphocyte count ≥2,000/μl (p=0.0088), serum C-reactive protein ≥1 mg/dl (p=0.014), serum carcinoembryonic antigen ≥5 ng/ml (p=0.0064) and serum CA19-9 ≥500 U/ml (p=0.0164) were significant predictors of poor overall survival. In multivariate analysis, absence of jaundice (p=0.0057), presence of ascites with or without histological diagnosis of carcinomatosis (p=0.0326), lymphocyte ≥2,000/μl (p<0.0001) and CA19-9 ≥500 U/ml (p=0.0198) were independent predictors.
Conclusion: Jaundice, ascites, high lymphocyte count and high serum CA19-9 levels are independent prognostic predictors for poor overall survival of patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer treated with nafamostat mesilate combined with gemcitabine chemotherapy.