Patterns of disease relapse and posttreatment follow-up of patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma: A single-center analysis

Background and Objectives To describe the patterns of disease relapse and follow-up of patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Additionally, we looked at patients' characteristics at relapse and survival. Methods We included patients with potentially resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma diagnosed from 2008 to 2018 who were submitted to resection with clear macroscopic margins and started posttreatment surveillance. Results The study population consists of 73 patients. The median interval between imaging studies was 3.2 months during the first 2 years of follow-up and 5.1 months thereafter. Forty-eight patients (65.8%) experienced disease relapse. The most frequent single site of relapse was locoregional (N = 21; 43.8%). At relapse, 31 patients (64.6%) were symptomatic and forty-two patients (87.6%) had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 or 1. Most patients were able to undergo additional anticancer therapy (N = 41; 85.4%). Patients with asymptomatic relapses experienced longer median postrelapse survival (25.4 vs. 11.3 months; p = 0.015). Conclusions A follow-up protocol that included imaging studies every 3 months in the first 2 years and every 6 months thereafter is able to diagnose disease relapse when patients have adequate performance status and are still able to undergo additional anticancer treatment.