Patient selection: male US military veterans with exocrine carcinoma, irrespective of management
Endpoint: death within 6 months of diagnosis
Risk factors for early mortality based on multivariate analysis:
(1) serum albumin < 3.5 g/dL
(2) white blood cell count > 10,000 per µL
Additional factors affecting outcome:
(1) unresectable (metastatic, invading adjacent organs or invading adjacent vascular structures)
(2) serum CA19-9 > 800 U/mL (> 21.6 times the upper limit of normal; normal reference range < 37 U/mL)
(3) serum alkaline phosphatase > 400 U/L
Limitations:
• The analytic method for serum alkaline phosphatase and the normal reference range were not listed.
• The method for determining CA19-9 was not given.
