Recent Trends in Survival of Patients with Pancreatic Cancer in Germany and the United States

Objectives Survival improvement for pancreatic cancer has not been observed in the last 4 decades. We report the most up-to-date population-based relative survival (RS) estimates and recent trends in Germany and the United States. Methods Data for patients diagnosed in 1997 to 2010 and followed up to 2010 were drawn from 12 population-based German cancer registries and the US SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) 13 registries database. Using period analysis, 5-year RS for 2007 to 2010 was derived. Model-based period analysis was used to assess 5-year RS time trends, 2002-2010. Results In total 28,977 (Germany) and 34,793 (United States) patients aged 15 to 74 years were analyzed. Five-year RS was 10.7% and 10.3% in Germany and the United States, respectively, and strongly decreased with age and tumor spread. Prognosis slightly improved from the period 2002-2004 to 2008-2010 (overall age-adjusted RS: +2.5% units in Germany and +3.4% units in the United States); improvement was particularly strong for regional stage and head and body subsites in Germany and for localized and regional stages and tail subsite in the United States. Conclusions Although pancreatic cancer survival continues to be poor for advanced-stage patients, our study disclosed encouraging indications of first improvements in 5-year RS after decades of stagnation.