Anatomically resectable <i>versus</i> biologically borderline resectable pancreatic cancer definition: refining the border beyond anatomical criteria and biological aggressiveness
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The anatomically resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma treatment sequence is still debated. Heterogeneity in patient characteristics within this group may explain literature discrepancies. To overcome these limits, a biologically borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma category has been analysed according to institutional criteria. The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics and outcomes of patients with biologically borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and determine whether they represent a distinct clinical and prognostic subgroup. METHODS: Data from all consecutive patients who underwent surgical resection for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma between 2015 and 2022 were retrospectively analysed. Biologically borderline resectable disease was classified by the presence of one or more of the following: carbohydrate antigen 19-9 ≥200 U/ml, cancer-related symptoms lasting >40 days, and radiological suspicion of regional lymph node metastases at diagnosis. RESULTS: In total, 886 patients were included in the study and divided into anatomically borderline resectable (266 patients (30%)) and anatomically resectable (620 patients (70%)), which was further divided into resectable (R; 397 patients (64%)) and biologically borderline resectable (223 patients (36%)). Neoadjuvant treatment was administered in 245 patients (92.1%) in the anatomically borderline resectable group, 82 patients (20.7%) in the R group, and 135 patients (60.5%) in the biologically borderline resectable group. After a median follow-up of 45 (95% c.i. 42 to 48) months, the median disease-specific survival in the biologically borderline resectable group was 40 months compared with 59 months in the R group (P < 0.001) and 40 months in the anatomically borderline resectable group (P = 0.570). In the upfront surgery cohort, the median disease-specific survival was worse for biologically borderline resectable patients compared with R patients (27 versus 54 months respectively, P < 0.001). Biologically borderline resectable was also independently associated with worse disease-specific survival, together with age, tumour size at diagnosis, and anatomically borderline resectable. The same, except for age, were also predictors of worse event-free survival. CONCLUSION: Despite their identical anatomical appearance, resectable and biologically borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma represent two distinct prognostic entities, warranting separate evaluation and, potentially, different treatment approaches.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".