Preoperative clinical and computed tomography (CT)-based nomogram to predict oncologic outcomes in patients with pancreatic head cancer resected with curative intent: A retrospective study

Background: Currently, proposed nomograms are mainly based on post-operative histopathology. The purpose of this study was to identify preoperative computed tomography (CT) and clinical information that allow prediction of disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients surgically treated for pancreatic head cancer. Methods: A total of 136 patients who underwent curative-intent surgery were retrospectively reviewed. Based on results from multivariate Cox regression analysis, a prediction model was constructed with preoperative CT features and clinical information. Overall performance of the nomogram was calculated by Harrell’s C-index. Results: Symptoms at diagnosis, preoperative serum CA 19-9 ≥ 34 U/mL, and four imaging features (necrosis (DFS, P = 0.066; OS, P = 0.002), possible venous invasion (DFS, P = 0.150, OS, P = 0.055), suspected metastatic regional lymph node (DFS, P = 0.001; OS, P = 0.099), and associated pancreatitis or pseudocyst (DFS, P = 0.013; OS, P = 0.041)) were included to build the nomogram. The c-statistics for the discrimination power of the proposed nomogram was 0.6496 for DFS and 0.6746 for OS. Conclusion: A nomogram derived from preoperative CT and clinical information could estimate the risk of recurrence and all-cause death after curative-intent surgery for radiologically resectable pancreatic head cancer.