Whipped into shape.

How aggressive should we be for localized pancreatic cancer in patients over 80? One could argue, if they are fit enough for a Whipple, they’re generally fit enough for standard adjuvant chemo. This NCDB analysis of patients >80 years receiving resection of pancreatic cancer between 2004-2016 found that the roughly half who received adjuvant chemo had a significantly longer median survival (>17 months) than the half that didn’t (<13 months). Sure, no propensity analysis can fully account for med oncs’ gestalt here, but it still shows that chemo is unlikely to be causing harm. In other words, absent randomized data for this population, age alone shouldn’t preclude receipt of standard adjuvant chemo following resection of localized pancreatic cancer. | Mehtsun, JAMA Oncol 2021