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Master thesis program in Medicine Radiation therapy in locally advanced pancreatic cancer: A retrospective population-based study Abstract Background The overall 5 years survival of pancreatic cancer is very poor. This is due to a largely asymptomatic disease which is often diagnosed in its later stages, metastatic pancreatic cancer or locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) where the tumor has grown over organs and vessels. The only curative treatment alternative is to surgically remove the tumor. Unfortunately, this is rarely possible due to advanced growth of the tumor. Therefore, in most cases, a palliative treatment strategy is the only option. This can consist of chemotherapy as a monotherapy or in combination with radiotherapy. The radiotherapy can be either in sequence or concomitant with the chemotherapy, the latter being more commonly used today. Purpose To study and compare the overall survival of Swedish LAPC patients with the data from international studies. Factors that may affect the overall survival were also included in the study, namely performance status and level of hemoglobin at start of therapy. Method Data was collected from the patient records database Melior. Patients treated at Sahlgrenska University Hospital with the diagnose LAPC were identified beforehand. Being the only radiation therapy department in the Västra Götaland Region, the patient cohort is regarded as population based. The total number of patient in the detailed medical records study was 53 and the time of diagnosis ranged between 2004-2013. 1 Results The median overall survival for the 2004-2009 group and 2010-2013 group after radiotherapy was 7 months and 11 months respectively (year indicating time of diagnosis). The overall survival of the two Hb groups was 8.4 months for Hb > 125 and 7.1 months for Hb < 125. Conclusion The overall survival rates after treatment are in line with the data provided from several international studies. Furthermore our studies suggest that Hb could be used as a prognostic marker before treatment in the future. A further investigation on matched patients with only chemotherapy is suggested. 2