Impact of Tumor Location on Patient Outcomes in Small Bowel Cancers

Abstract Background Small bowel cancers are rare gastrointestinal malignancies and tumor location impact on outcomes is unclear. Material and Methods A retrospective review was performed on stage I-IV small bowel cancer cases from 2000-2017 in British Columbia, Canada. Baseline patient characteristics, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated by tumor location and systemic therapy use patterns were summarized. Results Of 340 patients included, primary tumor distribution was: duodenum (51.2%), ileum (19.1%), jejunum (18.5%), and unspecified (11.2%). Median DFS for stage I-III disease was 37.7, 49.1, and 26.7 months for duodenal, jejunal, and ileal tumors (p=0.018). Median OS was 9.6, 35.2, and 20.1 months for duodenal, jejunal, and ileal tumors (p Conclusion Survival differences exist when small bowel cancers were assessed by tumor location, and jejunal tumors portended better prognosis overall.