Application of the Eighth Edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Notable modifications have been made in the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Staging eighth edition staging for pancreatic cancer for the consideration of the irreproducible and inapplicable of the AJCC seventh edition staging. However, the new staging classification has not been systemically verified.

METHODS: A comparison was performed to evaluate the application of the AJCC seventh and eighth staging classifications using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry (18,450 patients) and an institutional series (2040 patients).

RESULTS: For the eighth staging classification, patients with tumor diameter of greater than 4 cm (T3N0M0, IIA) had similar prognosis to patients with 1 to 3 positive nodes (T1-3N1M0, IIB). For patients who underwent tumor resection and without lymph node involvement, survival curves of T1 (≤2 cm), T2 (2-4 cm), and T3 (>4 cm) were well separated. Statistical difference in survival analyses was demonstrated in N0 (0 positive node), N1 (1-3 positive nodes), and N2 (≥4 positive nodes) patients underwent tumor resection. The AJCC eighth edition had better stage distribution than the AJCC seventh edition for pancreatic cancer.

CONCLUSIONS: The eighth edition of AJCC staging is more applicable and accurate than the seventh edition for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.