[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

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

Yamada et al., 2026, Surgery Today — Medicine

Patterns: [Distinctions](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/distinctions), [Relationships](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/relationships)

## 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.

## 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.

These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.

[Source](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00595-026-03463-1)