Differences in survival by histologic type of pancreatic cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Although pancreatic cancer has an extremely high case fatality rate, little is known about differences in mortality by histologic types. We examined median survival and risk of mortality for endocrine pancreatic tumors and two types of exocrine tumors, adenocarcinomas, and mucinous tumors.


METHODS
This analysis included 35,276 pancreatic cancer cases reported to the nine population-based cancer registries participating in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program from 1973 to 2000. Survival among cases with pancreatic adenocarcinomas, mucinous tumors, and endocrine tumors were compared using Kaplan-Meier plots. Comparative risks of mortality were evaluated using multivariate adjusted Cox regression models.


RESULTS
Endocrine pancreatic cancer cases had a median survival of 27 months compared with a median survival of 4 months for adenocarcinoma and mucinous tumor cases. Compared with adenocarcinoma cases, endocrine tumor cases had a 0.28-fold lower risk of mortality [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.26-0.30], and mucinous tumor cases had a 0.88-fold lower risk (95% CI, 0.84-0.91). These results were similar for men and women. Within histologic types, advanced tumor stage, older diagnosis age, surgery, and Black race were associated with increased risks of mortality, whereas female sex and more recent year of diagnosis were associated with decreased risks.


CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms the clinical observation that patients with endocrine pancreatic cancer survive longer than patients with exocrine tumors. A better understanding of these differences could contribute to identifying the underlying causes of pancreatic cancer and to improving survival rates across all histologic types.
Fesinmeyer
Megan Dann
MD
Department of Epidemiology and Institute for Public Health Genetics, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, HSB F-363, Box 357236, 1959 Northeast Pacific Avenue, Seattle, WA 98195-7236, USA.
Austin
Melissa A
MA
Li
Christopher I
CI
De Roos
Anneclaire J
AJ
Bowen
Deborah J
DJ
D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D046790:Pancreas, Exocrine / Q000473:pathology*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D018426:SEER Program; D016019:Survival Analysis