Transcatheter arterial infusion combined with radioactive particles in the treatment of advanced body/tail pancreatic cancer: a retrospective cohort study

Background Patients with advanced body/tail pancreatic cancer have poor quality of life and low overall survival rate. In recent years, interventional diagnosis and treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer have become increasingly widespread. This retrospective cohort study investigated the efficacy of routine intravenous chemotherapy (the control group), transcatheter arterial infusion (TAI) chemotherapy, and TAI combined with radioactive particles as therapeutic methods for advanced body/tail cancer pancreatic by assessing the short-term and overall survival rates. Methods We screened our prospective database for patients with advanced body/tail pancreatic cancer, which tumor deemed unresectable and no other confirmed malignant tumors, patients were assigned into three groups according to their treatment. Analyses with regard to the clinical responses, the 6, 12, and 18-month survival rates and overall survival rates were performed. Results The median survival time was 6 months in the control group, 10 months in the TAI group and 13 months in the TAI combined group. The Kaplan–Meier estimates of the OS among the three groups, indicating that there is significant difference among three groups (P༜0.000). The clinical remission rates were 17.5% in the control group, 41.5% in the TAI group, and 48.0% in the TAI combined group. Covariates analyzed showed that different treatment methods and times affected the results significantly (P༜0.002). Conclusions In the treatment of advanced body/tail pancreatic cancer, TAI and TAI combined with radioactive particles significantly improved the clinical outcomes in patients compared with routine intravenous chemotherapy.