A comparison of chemotherapy use in stage IV pancreatic cancer.

257 Background: Palliative chemotherapy is the standard of care for stage IV pancreatic cancer patients (SFPC). Methods: This study compares the amount of chemotherapy given for SFPC across insurance types using the National Cancer Database (NCDB), which contains 70% of U.S. cancer cases. Results: The NCDB reported 115,512 patients diagnosed with SFPC from 2000 to 2009. Overall, 38.3% of SFPC patients received chemotherapy. The VAH (28.3%) and Medicare (29.7%) provided significantly less chemotherapy to SFPC patients as compared to Managed Care (48.2%), Private Insurance (46.7%), Tricare/Military (42.8%), Medicaid (37.8%), Medicare Plus Supplement (35.5%), and Uninsured (34.4%). From 2000 to 2009, the rate of chemotherapy for SFPC increased for both VAH (22.9% to 34.3%) and non-VAH (31.1% to 44.1%). At time of diagnosis, the percent of patients less than 60 at the VAH was 32%, non-VAH was 25.5% and Medicare was 7%. From age 20 to 59, the rate of chemo was stable at approximately 49%, but each successive d...