Refined TNM-staging for pancreatic adenocarcinoma – Real progress or much ado about nothing?

Abstract

In order to provide optimal cancer care and prognostication, it is necessary to stage the disease. The 8th edition of the TNM-staging for exocrine pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) system has refined size-based T-stages and number-based N-categories. However, several impediments to the value of this may exist. For one, even at small size (e.g. <0.5 cm), PDACs readily metastasize, making size unreliable to predict behavior. The increasing shift towards neoadjuvant treatments for both resectable and borderline PDAC, and use of conversion therapy for locally advanced disease, suggest the need for additional biological predictors. Here we discuss whether recent changes in the TNM system for PDAC are along the lines of changes seen in contemporary management. Also, with the particular aggressive biology seen in PDAC, it is questioned whether the minute details in TNM refinement represents true progress or merely shuffles the cards.