Severe Neutropenia is Associated with Better Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Who Receive Modified FOLFIRINOX Therapy

While modified FOLFIRINOX therapy is effective for treating advanced pancreatic cancer, it frequently causes severe neutropenia. The present study investigated the effect of severe neutropenia on clinical outcomes in advanced pancreatic cancer patients who received modified FOLFIRINOX. The study subjects were 51 patients (30 males and 21 females) with advanced pancreatic cancer who received modified FOLFIRINOX (2h bolus injection of oxaliplatin at 85 mg/m(2), 2 h bolus injection of L-leucovorin at 200 mg/m(2), 90min bolus injection of irinotecan at 150 mg/m(2), followed by continuous infusion of 5-fluorouracil for 46 h at 2400 mg/m(2) without bolus 5-fluorouracil) during the period from January 2014 to May 2018. No patients had prior history of chemotherapy. Adverse events, including neutropenia, were graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. Median overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint, while median time to treatment failure (TTF), overall response rate (ORR), and the incidence of other adverse events were secondary endpoints. Severe neutropenia (grade ≥3) occurred in 39 patients (76.4%), and Cox proportional hazard analysis identified high total bilirubin level as a significant risk factor. Median duration of OS was significantly longer in patients with severe neutropenia than in those without it (21.3 months versus 8.9 months, p = 0.020). Moreover, there was a significant correlation between OS and the grade of neutropenia (r = 0.306, p = 0.029). ORR tended to be higher, though not significantly, in patients with severe neutropenia. In contrast, the incidence rates of other adverse events were not different between the two groups. Severe neutropenia is an independent predictor of prognosis in advanced pancreatic cancer patients received modified FOLFIRINOX therapy.