Second-Line Treatment for Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Is There a Role for Gemcitabine?

Abstract

Purpose Advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) is an aggressive disease that has poor prognosis and frequently interferes with patient's quality of life. There has been progress in first-line regimens; however, there is no standard second-line regimen. The aim of this study is to analyze second-line gemcitabine after first-line fluorouracil (FU) + leucovorin (LV) + irinotecan + oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) regimen. Methods This study included consecutive patients with advanced PA treated at Hospital Sirio-Libanes from 2011 to 2016. The patients received FOLFIRINOX as first-line treatment and upon progression, received gemcitabine alone. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results A total of 54 patients were evaluated. Most patients were male (61.1%) and most had an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1 prior to the beginning of second-line treatment (66.6%). The mean number of gemcitabine cycles was 3.4. Most patients had disease progression as the best response to treatment (75.9%), 11.1% had stable disease, and 9.3% experienced a partial response. The median progression-free survival was 1.7 months, and the median overall survival was 6.8 months. Conclusions Gemcitabine alone did not show meaningful clinical benefit as second-line treatment after FOLFIRINOX.