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# Redefining biologically borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: a data-driven reassessment of CA19-9 cutoff and a preoperative lymph node metastasis prediction model

## Details

**Authors** Yamada et al.

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Surgery Today

**Discipline** Medicine

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-026-03463-1) 
10.1007/s00595-026-03463-1

## In authors' words

### What they found (results)

In 399 surgical patients, replacing the international CA19-9 cutoff of 500 U/mL with a data-derived cutoff of 133 U/mL better discriminated disease-specific survival, reclassifying anatomically-resectable patients above the new threshold as having survival equivalent to borderline-resectable disease.

## Commentary

### In short

Where a diagnostic boundary is drawn determines which patients are grouped together, and moving that boundary to match the real prognostic split reveals a survival relationship the old category obscured.

**Patterns it shows** D, R

**Added** 2026-08-14

**How to cite this** Yamada et al. (2026). Redefining biologically borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: a data-driven reassessment of CA19-9 cutoff and a preoperative lymph node metastasis prediction model. Surgery Today.