The Role of Location of Tumor in the Prognosis of the Pancreatic Cancer

Identification of prognostic factors is important to improve treatment outcomes in pancreatic cancer. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the location of pancreatic cancer on survival and to determine whether it was a significant prognostic factor. Altogether, 2483 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer were examined. Comparative analysis of clinicopathologic characteristics, survival analysis, and multivariate analysis were performed. Cancers of the pancreatic head or the uncinate process were present in 49.5% of patients. The head/uncinate cancers had more clinical T1/T2 tumors (59.4% vs. 35.5%, p < 0.001) and a significantly higher 5-year survival rate (8.9% vs. 7.3%, p < 0.001) than the body/tail cancers. The 5-year survival rate in patients with head/uncinate cancers was significantly lower in the resectable (p = 0.014) and the locally advanced groups (p = 0.007). In patients who underwent resection with curative intent, the 5-year survival rate was lower in the head/uncinate group (p = 0.046). The overall outcome of the head/uncinate cancers was better than the body/tail cancers, due to the high proportion of resectable cases. In patients who underwent curative resection, the head/uncinate cancers had a higher number of T1/T2 tumors, but worse outcomes. In the multivariate analysis, tumor location was not an independent prognostic factor for pancreatic cancer.