Opportunity costs of undergoing surgical resection and perioperative chemotherapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Abstract

398 Background: Treatment of early stage pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) includes surgical resection and either neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy. Due to the intensity of treatment and perioperative morbidity rates of pancreatic resection, patients may spend a significant portion of their survival time in receipt of clinical care. However, time spent in receipt of care has not been previously described in patients with early stage PDAC. The primary aim of this study was to determine the total time spent in receipt of surgical and perioperative chemotherapy in patients with resectable PDAC. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed of patients diagnosed with PDAC who underwent curative-intent resection at a single institution tertiary care center between January 2015 and October 2019. Patients who died within 30 days of surgery were excluded. Total care time, including all relevant clinician visits, laboratory, radiologic and procedural studies, and treatment visits, was abstracted from the primary medical record. Care time included estimated travel time based on patient address. Care time was divided into preoperative, surgical, and systemic therapy phases of care. Time spent in surgical care included the hospital length of stay, postoperative follow-up visits, and admissions for postoperative complications. Results: A total of 86 patients were identified. Median total preoperative care time was 29 hours (IQR 11-135; 0.4% of survival time, range 0% - 72.7%). Median total time spent in surgical care was 216 hours (IQR 164-371; 2% of survival time, range 0.3% - 68.4%). Among the patients who received systemic chemotherapy care within the same institutional health system (N = 41), median total time spent in receipt of systemic therapy was 447 hours (IQR 194-647; 3% of survival time, range 0.1% - 55.4%). 10.5% of patients (N = 9) spent more than 10% of total survival time in surgical care and 5.8% (N = 5) patients spent more than 10% of survival time in receipt of systemic care. Median cumulative travel time for patients was 19 hours (IQR 10.2-37.6). Conclusions: For the majority of patients undergoing resection for PDAC, time spent in receipt of surgical care does not appear to represent a substantial time burden relative to survival time. However, for a subset of patients, the time burden is considerable. Further research to determine predictors of increased time spent in receipt of multimodality cancer care is warranted to better inform patient and surgeon communication and decision-making.

Time-Related Burdens of Cancer Care

“…With that background, the work by Dr Lim et al 4 describing the time spent in health care by people with pancreatic adenocarcinoma undergoing surgery is timely. They included 107 patients who underwent a curative-intent resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma at a single center in the Southeast United States.…”

“…On the basis of two reports from different academic US centers, a conservative estimate is that patients with pancreatic cancer will spend 10%-20% of their living days receiving cancer treatment. 4,5 We recognize that pancreatic cancer is a highly morbid disease, and people often have complex health care needs related to the cancer itself, irrespective of whether and what cancer treatment is administered. We acknowledge that time spent in health care is often unavoidable and may add downstream time (and/or improve quality of life).…”