Disease outcome of patients with pancreatic cancer in a cohort treated outside clinical trials.

This retrospective study included 92 consecutive patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer treated in the Turku University Hospital in 2010. The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was verified by either histological samples (adenocarcinoma) or by imaging or both, excluding other known histological types of tumours. Median patient survival was 11 months. Smokers had a better median overall survival (20 months) than non-smokers (10 months) (p=0.029). Patients with carcinoma of the head of pancreas had the best survival rates (15 months), whereas those with cancers of the tail of pancreas reached a median survival of only 3 months. The importance of this small trial resides in its retrospective and non-randomized nature, analyzing real-life patients, as encountered in daily practice, out of which, unfortunately, a substantial proportion would not be eligible for any randomized clinical trial.