Reconsideration of the clinical impact of neoadjuvant therapy in resectable and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: A dual-institution collaborative clinical study

We investigated true indication of neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in resectable pancreatic cancer and the optimal surgical timing in borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.A total of 687 patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer were enrolled. Survival analysis was performed by intention-to-treat analysis and propensity score matching (PSM) was conducted.In resectable disease, the NAT group showed better overall survival (OS) compared with the upfront group. Multivariate analysis identified CA19-9 level (≥100 U/mL) and lymph node metastasis to be prognostic factors, and a tumor size of 25 mm was the optimal cut-off value to predict lymph node metastasis. There was no significant survival difference between patients with a tumor size ≤25 mm and CA19-9 < 100 U/mL and those in the NAT group. In borderline resectable disease, OS in the NAT group was significantly better than that in the upfront group. CEA (≥5 ng/mL) and CA19-9 (≥100 U/mL) were identified as prognostic factors; however, the OS of patients fulfilling these factors was worse than that of the NAT group.NAT could be unnecessary in patients with tumor size ≤25 mm and CA19-9 < 100 U/mL in resectable disease. In borderline resectable disease, surgery should be delayed until tumor marker levels are well controlled.