Life expectancy and quality of life after surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer – Our experience within 12 years

Introduction: Adenocarcinoma of the pancreas still has one of the worst prognosis among solid tumors. Its mortality rate is at the 5th rank among malignant diseases. The rate of resecability is very poor, the possibility of curative resection is only 10–15% of all cases. Even with the development of modern surgical methods and decreased perioperative mortality-morbidity, the 5-years survival among patients underwent successful surgical resection is still under 10%. Newly introduced chemotherapic drugs in the adjuvant-neoadjuvant treatment resulted a slight increase of the mean-survival in different groups of the patients.

The aim of the study was to analyze the life expectancy and the quality of life following various types of surgical treatment.

Material and methods: In a 12 years period 437 patients underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in our department. In 105 patients pancreatoduodenectomy and in 275 patients palliative surgery were performed. In 57 patients only explorative laparotomy could be done. The long-term results were evaluated by follow-up examinations after curative and palliative surgery. The changes in general condition of the patients were analyzed by physical examination, ultrasonography, CT scan and quality of life test.

Results: The mean survival rate of the patients with curative resection was 16.3 months and it was 6.9 months among patients underwent palliative surgery only. The survival of the patients with explorative laparotomy was only 1.9 months. Most of the patients with curative resection had a better quality of life.

Conclusion: Longer disease-free period, longer survival and better quality of life were found in the group of patients underwent curative resection. In certain cases however, the tumor-free state doesn't bring a good quality of life simultaneously.