Mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the pancreas - outcome following different modes of treatment

Abstract

Aim of the study: Mucinous cystadenocarcinomas (MCAC) of the pancreas are rare tumours, when localised to the pancreas alone, surgical resection is mostly associated with a favourable prognosis. The potential value of palliative treatment with chemotherapy for irresectable disease is though scarsely described. The aim of this study was to determine outcome in patients with MCAC of the pancreas following different modes of treatment.
Materials and methods: 15 patients, 10 females and 5 males, with histologically or cytologically verified MCAC, were divided into three groups: surgical resection (n=7), chemotherapy (n=5) and no treatment (n=3).
Results: There was no obvious difference in gender distribution between the subgroups. A tendency towards higher age was seen in the group without treatment, as was a larger tumour size as compared to the chemotherapy group. Patients administered chemotherapy and the group without treatment seemed to present with the same prevalence of metastasic disease (3/5 and 2/3, respectively). All patients in the group without treatment died after in median 1 month following pathological diagnosis. One patient in the chemotherapy group was alive at 9 months follow-up, and the others survived in median 11 months. In the surgically treated group, 4/7 were alive at a follow-up of in median 154 months. Of the three deceased patients, surviving 44, 53 and 151 months, respectively, two had microscopically non-radical resection.
Conclusions: MCAC of the pancreas is, when locally confined and without metastases, associated with fairly good prognosis after surgical resection. In inoperable patients and for metastatic disease, outcome is poor.