The exocrine cells and endocrine cells of the pancreas form different types of tumors. It’s very important to know if the cancer in the pancreas is an exocrine or endocrine cancer. A new study of patients who underwent curative surgical removal of a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma showed that two of the nine preoperative factors analyzed were strongly predictive of poor prognosis regardless of the tumor stage.

‘Tumors of the endocrine pancreas are uncommon, making up less than 5% of all pancreatic cancers. As a group, they are often called pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors or islet cell tumors.’

Preoperative assessment of these prognostic biomarkers might help in planning treatment strategies to improve patient outcomes, according to an article published in Journal of Pancreatic Cancer, a peer-reviewed open access publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Journal of Pancreatic Cancer website.

The article entitled “C-Reactive Protein/Albumin Ratio and Prognostic Nutritional Index Are Strong Prognostic Indicators of Survival in Resected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma,” was coauthored by Masahide Ikeguchi, Takehiko Hanaki, Kanenori Endo, Kazunori Suzuki, Seiichi Nakamura, Takashi Sawata, and Tetsu Shimizu from Tottori Prefectural Central Hospital, Tottori, Japan.

The researchers evaluated the following indicators before tumor resection in 43 patients treated over 9 years: operative procedure, operation time, tumor stage, measures of preoperative serum amylase, C-reactive protein/albumin ratio, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, prognostic nutritional index, carcinoembryonic antigen, and carbohydrate antigen 19-9.

“In this article, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of prognostic indicators for patients with pancreatic cancer,” says Journal of Pancreatic Cancer Editor-in-Chief Charles J. Yeo, MD, Department of Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University.

Source: Eurekalert