Effect of chemotherapy on prognosis in patients with primary pancreatic signet ring cell carcinoma

Abstract

Abstract Objective Primary pancreatic signet ring cell carcinoma (PSRCC) is an extremely rare histologic variant of pancreatic cancer with a worse prognosis. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of chemotherapy for patients with PSRCC.Methods Patients with PSRCC between 2000 and 2019 were identified Using the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. The main outcomes in our study were cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Patient baseline characteristics were compared using Pearson’s chi-square test. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to generate the survival curves. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) as well as univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to analyze the prognostic variables on OS and CSS.Results A total of 588 patients with PSRCC were identified. Chemotherapy was an independent prognostic factor for OS and CSS, and significantly associated with OS (HR = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.27–0.40, P < 0.001) and CSS (HR = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.26–0.39, P < 0.001).Conclusions Patients with PSRCC can benefit from chemotherapy, so it should be recommended to patients with PSRCC, especially those not suitable for surgery.