Use of radiation therapy in locally advanced pancreatic cancer to improve outcomes: A SEER review.

e15233 Background: Pancreatic cancer survival rates remain poor despite treatment. Although radiotherapy in addition to chemotherapy is frequently employed, the role of radiation therapy (XRT) in the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) remains controversial. The majority of the data evaluating the efficacy of radiotherapy is derived from small, dated, randomized trials which have provided conflicting results. Methods: We queried the SEER database from 2004-2011 to identify patients with locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Pts with survival <2 months, surgery prior to XRT, unknown radiation status, and those who received post-operative radiation were excluded. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors related to survival was performed using a Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results: We identified 4,460 patients that met the inclusion criteria; 59% of pts received radiation and 41% did not. The two groups were similar with respect to gender and tumor differentiation. P...