Intranetwork variation in neoadjuvant therapy delivery for borderline resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer: a UK multicentre cohort study (2026)

Type of publication:

Journal article

Author(s):

Labib, P L; Alarabiyat, M; Powell-Brett, S; Hall, L; Rehman, S; Edwards, D; Ma, Y T; Sivakumar, S; Good, J; Candish, C; Nagy, A; Tsalic, M; Hafeez, T; Kunene, V; *Chatterjee, A; Roberts, K J; Chatzizacharias, N.

Citation:

Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2026 Apr 09.

Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic cancer (PC) treatment in the UK is coordinated via regional referral networks, but formal neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) pathways for borderline resectable and locally advanced PC (BR/LAPC) are rare. This cohort study assessed intranetwork variation in access to diagnostics, time to treatment and patient outcomes following NAC for BR/LAPC in our network.

METHODS: All patients with BR/LAPC referred from regional network hospitals between 2017 and 2021 were reviewed. Data were collected on time from first diagnostic computed tomography scan to endoscopy, commencement of NAC, NAC regimens administered and patient outcomes.

RESULTS: In the 155 patients who commenced NAC, there were significant differences in median time to biliary drainage and endoscopic ultrasound between referral hospitals. Time from decision to treat to first administration of NAC was long (median 64 days). There were significant differences in the proportion of patients commenced on mFOLFIRINOX (0-100%, p<0.001) and the proportion completing NAC (0-100%, p=0.012). The likelihood of proceeding to surgical resection was similar between centres.

CONCLUSIONS: There is significant intranetwork variation in access to interventional endoscopy and choice of NAC regimen. Centralised tracking of patients receiving NAC, development of locally agreed treatment protocols and an update to national guidelines are needed to standardise NAC pathways for BR/LAPC.

DOI: 10.1308/rcsann.2026.0023

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Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy in patients with pancreatic cancer: A national prospective study (2021)

Type of publication:Journal article

Author(s):Harvey P.R.; McKay S.C.; Wilkin R.J.W.; Layton G.R.; Powell-Brett S.; Okoth K.; Trudgill N.; Roberts K.J.; Baker G.; Brom M.K.; Brown Z.; Farrugia A.; Haldar D.; Kalisvaart M.; Marley A.; Pande R.; Patel R.; Stephenson B.T.F.; Baillie C.; Croitoru C.; Eddowes P.J.; Elshaer M.; Farhan-Alanie M.M.; Laing R.; Mann K.; Materacki L.; Nandi S.; Pericleous S.; Prasad P.; Rinkoff S.; Selvaraj E.; Shah J.; Sheel A.R.G.; Szatmary P.; Williams P.; Milburn J.; Bekheit M.; Ghazanfar M.; Curry H.; Persson P.; Rollo A.; Thomson R.; Harper S.; Varghese S.; Collins J.; Stupalkowska W.; Afzal Z.; Badran A.; Barker J.; Hakeem A.; Kader R.; Saji S.; Sheikh S.; Smith A.C.D.; Stasinos K.; Steinitz H.; Malik H.; Burston C.; Carrion-Alvarez L.; Shiwani M.; Ahmad G.; Allen T.; Darley E.; Patil S.; Brooks C.; Cresswell B.; Welsh F.; Cook C.; Smyth R.; Booth R.; West M.; King A.; Tucker O.; Phelan L.; Burahee A.; Devogel C.; Javed A.; Kay R.; Khan S.; Leet F.; Troth T.; Ward A.; Young J.; Murray E.; Gray T.; Johnson R.; Lockwood S.; Young R.; Zhou G.; Portal J.; Rees J.; Arnold B.; Scroggie D.; Abeysekera K.W.M.; Asif A.; Hay F.; Maccabe T.; Pathak S.; Robertson H.; Sandberg C.; Woodland H.; Charalabopoulos A.; Kordzadeh A.; Anderson J.; Napier D.; Hodges P.; Jones G.; Sheiybani G.; Archer T.; Khan A.; Kirk S.; Walker N.; Hassam U.; Wong I.; Silva M.; Jones K.; Allen J.; Abbas S.H.; Harborne M.; Majid Z.; Eardley N.; Reilly I.; Wadsworth P.; Bell C.; Holloway K.; Stockton W.; Thomas R.; Williams K.J.; Canelo R.; Tay Y.; Adnan M.; Aroori S.; Rajaretnam N.; Rekhraj S.; Wilkins A.; Nelapatia R.; Verebcean M.; Braithwaite S.; Apollos J.; Robertson N.; Belgaumkar A.; Brant A.; Shahdoost A.; French J.J.; Sen G.; Thakkar R.; Kanwar A.; Klaptocz J.; Rodham P.; O'Riordan B.; Maharaj G.; Davies M.; Higgs S.; Cutting J.; Joseph M.; Backhouse L.; Butler J.; Cooper J.; O'nions T.; Shaukat S.; Kumar A.; George V.; Ingmire J.; Saha A.; Coe P.; Noor R.; Lykoudis P.; Elshaer A.; Andreou A.; Clarke T.; Davies O.; Rimmer P.; Kanakala V.; Mitra V.; Akol G.; Burgess M.; Elzubier M.; Jones R.; Majumdar D.; Wescott H.; Bailey A.; Gomez M.; Herman O.; Deguara J.; Whitehead-Clarke T.; Gorard L.; Law R.; Leung L.Y.; Whitelaw D.; Adil M.; Krivan S.; Waters J.; Fernandes R.; Mealey L.; Merh R.; Okaro A.; Shepherd J.; O'Reilly D.; Pilkington J.; Hussain Z.; Ingram S.; Stott M.C.; Abbott S.; Bhamra N.; Hirri F.; Lee K.; Murrell J.; Resool S.; Taylor M.; King M.; Madhotra R.; Ayubi H.; Ali J.; Chander N.; Mckune G.; Wothers T.; Shingler G.; Mortimer M.; Dykes K.; Edwards H.; Menon S.; Gautham A.; Ali I.; Anjum R.; Brookes M.; Wilkinson B.; Tait I.; Noaman I.; Wilson M.; Mogan S.; Rushbrook S.; Hyde S.; Baker S.; Hall P.; Lucas H.; Pease J.; Millar A.; Tariq Z.; Blad W.; Cunningham M.; Hall M.; Luthra P.; Seymour K.; Aawsaj Y.; Jones M.; Elliott D.; Finch J.G.; Rajjoub Y.; Gupta A.; Molloy P.; Mykoniatis I.; Atallah E.; Albraba E.; Asimba V.; Baxter A.; Chin A.; Vojtekova K.; Ong L.; Modi H.N.; Muscara F.; Perry M.; Katz C.; Shaban N.; Dichmont L.; Dissanayake T.; Mostafa W.; Ghosh D.; Hwang S.; Bajomo O.; Lloyd T.; Wye J.; Holt A.; Pathanki A.; Townsend S.; Babar N.; Giovinazzo F.; Kennedy L.; Kandathil M.; King D.; Pillai M.; Glen P.; Holroyd D.; Drozdzik S.; Kourounis G.; Thompson J.; McNally S.; Thomas I.; Reddy Y.; Subar D.; Heywood N.; Khoo E.; Austin A.; Awan A.; Tan H.; Kasi M.; Prasad S.; Baqai M.; Abd Alkoddus M.; Al-Allaf O.; Mitchell K.; Mole S.; Yoong A.; Fusai G.; Brown S.; Bulathsinhala S.; Gilliland J.; Boyce T.; Al-Ardah M.; Matthews E.; Wakefield C.; Hou D.; Thomasset S.; Guest R.; Falconer S.; Hughes M.; Johnston C.; Kung J.W.C.; Lee E.; McNally E.; Sherif A.E.; Stutchfield B.; Baron R.D.; Dunne D.F.J.; Dickerson L.D.; Exarchou K.E.; Knight E.; Whelan P.; Hutchins R.; Wilson P.; Phillpotts S.; Badrulhisham F.; Dawes A.; Derwa Y.; Rajagopal S.; Ramoutar S.; Vaik T.; Bhogal R.H.; McLaren N.; Policastro T.; *Butterworth J.; *Riera M.; *Ismail A.; *Ahmed A.; *Alame R.; *Alford K.; *Banerjee S.; *Bull C.; *Kirby G.; Athwal T.; Hebbar S.; Ishtiaq J.; Kamran U.; Abbasi A.; Kamarul-bahrin M.; Banks A.; Khalil A.; Karanjia N.; Trivedi D.; Chakravaratty S.; Frampton A.; Gabriella J.; Pinn G.; Colleypriest B.; Betteridge F.; Murugiah D.; Rossiter A.; Yong K.; Sellahewa C.; Chui K.; Ehsan A.; Fisher N.; Iyer S.; McMurtry H.; Garbutt G.; Mahgoub S.; Alleyne L.; Harvey J.; Johnson K.; Richards E.; Palaniyappan N.; Bowler C.; Inumerable R.; Abu M.; Suhool A.; Talbot T.; Westwood J.; Zumbo G.; Osborne A.; Botes A.; Dyer S.; Thomas-Jones I.; Merker L.; Przemioslo R.; Roderick M.; Valverde J.; Zerafa A.; Barker S.; Wan A.; Lalani R.; Barrett C.; Kapirial N.; McCarthney K.; Ramamoorthy R.; Yalchin M.; Huggett M.; Macutkiewicz C.; Smith A.; Buchanan A.; Burke J.; Goodchild G.; Keane M.G.; Potts J.; Disney B.; McFarlane M.; Baker E.; Bullock S.; Coleman S.; Mcardle C.; Morgan J.; Mozdiak E.; Obisesan A.; O'Flynn L.; Mowbray N.; de Berker H.T.; Driscoll P.; Alberts J.C.; Sadien I.D.; Webb K.; Khalil H.; Parmar C.; Sadigh D.; Seyed-Safi P.; Shala L.; Somasundaram M.; Bryce G.; McCormack K.; Jamieson W.; Mitchell L.; Cheung D.; Hicken B.; Abbas N.; Kurian A.; Tahir I.; Spearman J.; Johnston T.; Jones C.

Citation:Pancreatology; Sep 2021; vol. 21 (no. 6); p. 1127-1134

Abstract:Objective: UK national guidelines recommend pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) in pancreatic cancer. Over 80% of pancreatic cancers are unresectable and managed in non-surgical units. The aim was to assess variation in PERT prescribing, determine factors associated with its use and identify potential actions to improve prescription rates. Design(s): RICOCHET was a national prospective audit of malignant pancreatic, peri-ampullary lesions or malignant biliary obstruction between April and August 2018. This analysis focuses on pancreatic cancer patients and is reported to STROBE guidelines. Multivariable regression analysis was undertaken to assess factors associated with PERT prescribing. Result(s): Rates of PERT prescribing varied among the 1350 patients included. 74.4% of patients with potentially resectable disease were prescribed PERT compared to 45.3% with unresectable disease. PERT prescription varied across surgical hospitals but high prescribing rates did not disseminate out to the respective referring network. PERT prescription appeared to be related to the treatment aim for the patient and the amount of clinician contact a patient has. PERT prescription in potentially resectable patients was positively associated with dietitian referral (p = 0.001) and management at hepaticopancreaticobiliary (p = 0.049) or pancreatic unit (p = 0.009). Prescription in unresectable patients also had a negative association with Charlson comorbidity score 5-7 (p = 0.045) or >7 (p = 0.010) and a positive association with clinical nurse specialist review (p = 0.028). Conclusion(s): Despite national guidance, wide variation and under-treatment with PERT exists. Given that most patients with pancreatic cancer have unresectable disease and are treated in non-surgical hospitals, where prescribing is lowest, strategies to disseminate best practice and overcome barriers to prescribing are urgently required.

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