Michele Reni, Lara Maria Pasetto, Alessandro Passardi, Michele Milella, Andrea Mambrini, Stefano Cereda, Giuseppe Aprile, Maria Chiara Tronconi, Rossana Berardi, Stefano Cordio, Nora Sartori, Alessia Rognone, Paolo Pederzoli, Massimo Falconi
BACKGROUND: Since gemcitabine became the standard treatment for metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, combination chemotherapy obtained conflicting impact on survival (OS). AIMS: To evaluate Italian treatment trends in metastatic pancreatic cancer. METHODS: Data on treatment outcome of 943 chemo-naive patients with pathological diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated between 1997 and 2007 in Italian centres were analysed. RESULTS: Four treatment groups could be identified: (1) single agent gemcitabine (N=529); (2) gemcitabine-platinating agent doublets (N=105); (3) gemcitabine-free three-drug intraarterial combination (N=75); (4) four-drug gemcitabine-cisplatin-fluoropyrimidine based combinations (N=170)...
March 2011: Digestive and Liver Disease