Pretreatment platelet to lymphocyte ratio is predictive of overall survival in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most devastating cancer types characterized by a 5-year patient survival rate of as low as 8% (1). By 2030, pancreatic cancer is predicted to surpass breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer and become the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States, next to lung cancer (2). The number of deaths caused by PDAC ranked top 6 among Chinese male population and top 7 among Chinese female population in all cancer-related mortalities (3). A paucity of efficient early detection method leads to advanced stages upon diagnosis, leaving more than 80% of all patients ineligible for radical resection. Moreover, the lack of effective therapeutic approaches only worsens the situation