Adjuvant Therapy After Neoadjuvant Therapy for Resected Pancreatic Cancer

Adjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFIRINOX has been shown to improve survival in patients with resected pancreatic cancer (NEJM JW Oncol Hematol Mar 2019 and N Engl J Med 2018; 379:2395). However, whether adjuvant therapy is of benefit in patients who received neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX is unclear.

To address this question, investigators conducted an international retrospective cohort study of 520 patients with pancreatic cancer who had received at least 2 cycles of preoperative FOLFIRINOX (median, 6 cycles) followed by pancreatic resection. Cancers were resectable in 48% of patients, borderline resectable in 41%, and locally advanced in 10%. Two thirds of patients received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, and one third received no adjuvant thera…