Influcence of localization of primary tumor on effectiveness of 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin combined with irinotecan and oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) in patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Metastatic pancreatic carcinoma is an incurable disease and gemcitabine remains the standard of care in first-line chemotherapy. Recently, fluorouracil/leucovorin combined with irinotecan and oxaliplatin (FOLFIRINOX) demonstrated their superiority in first-line therapy. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of FOLFIRINOX in either first- and second-line treatment and to compare its efficacy in regard to the location of the primary tumor.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of clinical factors associated with patients' survival using a cohort of 42 patients treated by FOLFIRINOX in either first- or second-line (2006-2011) and a control cohort of 42 patients matched on sex and age without FOLFIRINOX treatment was obtained from a previous period of time (2001-2005).

RESULTS: The median follow-up was 10 months. The median overall survival was 10 months for the whole cohort and 10 and 12 months for patients treated at first- and second-line, respectively (p<0.05). In this cohort using a multivariate model, among classical prognosis factors, only primary location in the head was associated with poor outcome. The median overall survival was 8 months for patients with primary location in the head and 14 months for patients with primary location in the corpse or tail (p=0.02). In the gemcitabine cohort, the median follow-up was 8 months. Using a multivariate model, only performance status was associated with outcome. The median overall survival was 9 versus 6.5 months for patients with tumor, of the head versus tail or corpse tumor respectively (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: This retrospective study suggests the same efficacy of FOLFIRINOX used either in first- or second- line therapy for pancreatic cancer. Importantly, FOLFIRINOX compared favorably to gemcitabine only for patients with tumor of the corpse or tail. Further prospective trials are warranted to evaluate the efficacy of FOLFIRINOX in patients with tumor of the head of the pancreas.