The global impact of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) regarding the survival of a pancreatic adenocarcinoma in a tertiary hospital.

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a type of neoplasm with a high mortality rate. There are a number of different procedures that may be followed in the study of the pancreas; one such procedure is endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS).

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the impact on patient survival of a biliopancreatic EUS performed 2 months prior to the first treatment session of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We carried out a retrospective evaluation of the medical case histories of our patients who had been diagnosed with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma over a period of 10 years (1 Jan 1999-31 Dec 2008), combining the computer archives of our Pathological Anatomy (biopsy and cytology) Dept. and those of the Digestive Department's Endoscopic Ultrasonography Unit in order to exclude any pancreatic neoplasms derived from other origins. Information regarding the patients' age, sex, tumor location, and various diagnostic tests (EUS, EUS-fine-needle aspiration (FNA), helical computed tomography (CT), multidetector-row CT (MDCT)) were recorded, along with the different treatments that had been followed in each case.

RESULT

When the survival rates of patients diagnosed with and without EUS were compared, evaluating the average survival rate and the survival rate after 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively, the differences in the results proved to be statistically significant (p = 0.014) in favor of the diagnosis with EUS. However, no significant differences were found when using other diagnostic imaging methods, such as EUS-FNA (p = 0.271), helical CT (p = 0.843), or MDCT (p = 0.738). To evaluate other influencing survival factors, a study was undertaken to record data depending on the sex of the patients. Results showed a higher survival rate in the female patients with a median of 6.57 months compared to that of the male patients with a median of 4.7 months (p = 0.014). Variables, which had resulted significant prior to treatment, were included in a multivariate Cox regression model, after which only the sex and EUS remained significant.

CONCLUSION

A biliopancreatic EUS carried out during the 2 months prior to the start of the treatment of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has a statistically significant impact on the patient survival rate. We believe that this is due to the possibility of a very-early-stage diagnosis of the adenocarcinoma permitted by the use of this technique.