Adenocarcinoma of the small bowel at a single Korean institute: management and prognosticators

Small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) is a rare malignancy with a poor outcome. We evaluated the natural history of SBA at a single Korean institute.

Medical records of 100 patients with SBA were reviewed for clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, outcomes, and prognostic factors.

The most common primary tumor site was the duodenum (82%). Seventy-four patients were diagnosed with stage III/IV disease (28/46 patients, respectively). Sixty-six patients had surgery (R0/R1/R2 in 32/2/32) without operation-related mortality. Of 34 R0/R1-resected patients, 16 received adjuvant chemotherapy. The dominant pattern of recurrence following R0/R1 resection was distant metastasis (29%; 10 of 34 patients). Thirty-four patients with advanced SBA received palliative chemotherapy, showing a response rate of 27.6% and a median progression-free survival of 3.8 months. The median overall survival for all patients and R0/R1-resected patients was 10.5 and 42.1 months, respectively. In multivariate analysis, lower stage, nonduodenal location, and R0/R1 resection were good independent prognostic factors.

Early diagnosis is crucial to improve outcomes of SBA with respect to increasing resectability. Distant metastasis as a dominant pattern of recurrence suggests a potential role for adjuvant chemotherapy. Newer antitumor agents in advanced SBA should be evaluated considering the poor efficacy of current palliative chemotherapy.