Adult Pancreatoblastoma: Clinical Insights and Outcomes Compared to Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC)

Abstract

Pancreatoblastoma is perceived to be aggressive in adults; however, data are limited due to the rarity of the disease. We benchmarked clinico-pathologic characteristics, outcomes, and survival of adult patients with pancreatoblastoma to a comparable PDAC cohort using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). This study included 301,204 patients: 35 with pancreatoblastoma and 301,169 PDAC patients. Pancreatoblastoma patients were younger than PDAC patients (56 vs. 69 years, p < 0.001). More pancreatoblastoma patients were managed at academic institutions (63.0% vs. 40.7%, p = 0.047). The most frequent primary site was the head and the neck of the pancreas. There were no differences in tumor size (4.2 cm vs. 3.7 cm, p = 0.828), lymph node positivity (14.3% vs. 26.4%, p = 0.103), or metastasis at time of diagnosis (31.4% vs. 46.1%, p = 0.081). The majority of pancreatoblastoma patients underwent resection compared to a minority of PDAC patients (69.7% vs. 15.5%, p < 0.001). Time from diagnosis to surgery was longer for pancreatoblastoma patients (33 vs. 14 days, p = 0.030). Pancreaticoduodenectomy was the most common type of resection in the pancreatoblastoma and PDAC groups (47.8% vs. 67.7%, p = 0.124). Among resected patients, pancreatoblastoma patients were less likely to receive radiation (4.8% vs. 37.0%, p = 0.002), but the use of chemotherapy was similar to PDAC patients (60.9% vs. 70.7%). After matching, median overall survival was longer for pancreatoblastoma than PDAC (59.8 months vs. 15.2 months, p = 0.014).