Bloomston, Mark

Importance Neoadjuvant therapy (NT) is an increasingly used treatment strategy for patients with localized pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Little research has been conducted on cancer care delivery during NT, and the standards for optimal delivery of NT have not been defined. Objective To develop consensus best practices for delivering NT to patients with localized PDAC. Design, Setting, and Participants This study used a modified Delphi approach consisting of 2 rounds of voting, and a series of virtual conferences (from October to December 2023) to reach expert consensus on candidate best practice statements generated from a systematic review of the literature and expert opinion. An interdisciplinary panel was formed including 47 North American experts from surgical, medical, and radiation oncology, radiology, pathology, gastroenterology, integrative oncology, anesthesia, pharmacy, nursing, cancer care delivery research, and nutrition as well as patient and caregiver stakeholders. Main Outcome and Measures Statements that reached 75% agreement or greater were included in final consensus statements. Results Of the 47 participating panel members, 27 (57.64%) were male, and the mean (SD) age was 47.6 (8.2) years. Physicians reported completing training a mean (SD) 14.6 (8.6) years prior and seeing a mean (SD) 110.6 (38.4) patients with PDAC annually; 35 (77.7%) were in academic practice. Final consensus was reached on 82 best practices for delivering NT. Of these, 38 statements focused on pre-NT practices, including diagnosis and staging (n = 15), evaluation and optimization (n = 20), and decision-making (n = 3); 29 statements defined best practices during NT, including initiation (n = 3), delivery of therapy (n = 8), restaging practices (n = 12), and management of complications during NT (n = 6); and 15 best practices were identified to guide treatment post-NT, focusing on surgery (n = 7), pathology (n = 4), and follow-up (n = 3). Conclusions Using a modified Delphi consensus technique, best practice guidelines were developed focusing on the optimal standards for delivering NT to patients with localized PDAC. Given the prognostic importance of completing multimodality therapy, efforts to standardize and optimize the delivery of NT represent an immediate opportunity to decrease care variation and improve outcomes for patients with PDAC. Future research should focus on validating and implementing best practice standards into clinical practice.

TPS4204 Background: The role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in resectable pancreatic cancer has yet to be defined. Recent phase II trial results demonstrate a median overall survival time (mOS) of only 22.4 months after treatment with perioperative modified FOLFIRINOX (mFOLFIRINOX) with 36% not reaching surgery due to disease progression during neoadjuvant therapy. While potential benefits and shortcomings of neoadjuvant chemotherapy have been well documented, to date, no phase III trial has directly compared a perioperative versus an adjuvant chemotherapy strategy in resectable pancreatic cancer. Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology A021806 is an actively accruing randomized controlled phase III trial evaluating the efficacy of perioperative chemotherapy with mFOLFIRINOX in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer. Methods: To qualify for enrollment, patients must have biopsy-proven localized resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma as defined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Patients must have good performance status (ECOG 0 or 1) and be candidates to receive mFOLFIRINOX treatment. All patients enrolled undergo central radiologic eligibility review for quality control and are then randomized to either Arm 1 which consists of 8 cycles of neoadjuvant mFOLFIRINOX followed by 4 cycles of adjuvant mFOLFIRINOX or Arm 2 which includes upfront surgery followed by 12 cycles of adjuvant mFOLFIRINOX. The primary endpoint of the trial is overall survival with secondary endpoints evaluating disease-free survival, margin-negative resection rate, surgical complications, and chemotherapeutic adverse events. Additional correlative endpoints include quality of life and radiomic imaging assessments. A total enrollment of 352 patients is planned from the US and Canada; current enrollment for this trial is at 145 patients. An OS interim analysis will be performed when 50% of the events (124) are observed combining the two arms. If the trial continues after interim analysis, the final OS analysis will be performed with a total of 248 events (combined arms). If the Cox model (stratified by tumor location and ECOG PS) comparing OS between arms produces a one-sided p-value < 0.05, then we will conclude that the OS of the perioperative therapy arm is superior to adjuvant therapy. The Alliance A021806 phase III trial aims to define a new standard of care for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer. Clinical trial information: NCT04340141 .