To investigate the application value of adjuvant chemotherapy in preventing early recurrence of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) after surgery.

Clinical data of 132 PDAC patients admitted to Panjin Liaoyou Baoshihua Hospital from January 2011 to December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 79 patients were male and 53 female, aged from 42 to 81 years, with a median age of 66 years. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the local ethical committee approval was received. All patients were divided into early recurrence group and non-early recurrence group according to whether PDAC recurred within 6 months after surgery. All patients were divided into the single surgery, preoperative chemotherapy, postoperative chemotherapy, pre- and postoperative chemotherapy groups according to different treatment methods. The impact factors related to early recurrence, and the impact of different treatment patterns on the recurrence were analyzed by Chi-square test.

58 patients received preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy and 98 cases received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Early recurrence occurred in 39 cases, including 17 cases of local recurrence and 22 cases of distant metastasis. The analysis result showed that TNM stage, preoperative CA19-9 level, preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy, tumor size, postoperative complications and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy were significantly correlated with early postoperative recurrence (χ²=6.752, 5.088, 5.563, 4.404, 4.320, 4.672; P<0.05). The early local recurrence rate in the pre- and postoperative chemotherapy group was significantly lower than that in the single surgery group (χ²=5.834, P=0.016). The early distant metastasis rates in the postoperative chemotherapy group, pre- and postoperative chemotherapy group were significantly lower than those in single surgery group (χ²=8.532, 8.210; P<0.017), and significantly lower compared with that in the preoperative chemotherapy group (χ²=6.842, 6.729; P<0.017).

Early postoperative recurrence of PDAC is associated with tumor TNM stage, CA19-9 level and adjuvant chemotherapy. Preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy can prevent the early postoperative local recurrence and distant metastasis of PDAC.