Impact of vitamin D serum levels on clinicopathological features and outcome in advanced pancreatic carcinoma
Article Category: Research Article
Published Online: Aug 09, 2021
Page range: 22 - 30
Received: Mar 17, 2019
Accepted: Dec 11, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fco-2021-0015
Keywords
© 2021 Amrallah A. Mohammed et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Background
Growing evidence encourages the preventive role of vitamin D in pancreatic carcinoma (PC). Meanwhile, the prognostic or predictive role needs more investigations. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between serum vitamin D levels and the clinicopathological features with the outcome in advanced pancreatic carcinoma (APC).
Materials and methods
The current prospective study included 176 patients with APC. Assessing 25-hydroxy vitamin D is the most accurate method to measure the serum vitamin D levels. Serum vitamin D levels <20 ng/ml are defined as vitamin D deficiency, while levels ranging from 20 to 29 ng/ml are defined as vitamin D insufficiency. Before any treatment modalities were administered, the serum vitamin D levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results
Serum vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were detected in 28.4% and 31.8%, respectively. A large tumor size, higher grade, liver metastasis, higher serum level of CA 19-9, poor ECOG PS, and low overall response rate (ORR) were associated with lower serum vitamin D levels (
Conclusions
Among patients with APC, serum vitamin D levels are considered a promising prognostic factor. It is associated with various poor prognostic features and worse survival outcome.