AIM To evaluate the changes in the 8~(th) edition American Joint Committee on Cancer(AJCC) for defining stage?ⅠB and?ⅡA pancreatic cancer and identify their prognostic factors.METHODS Pancreatic cancer patients were selected from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database(1973-2013). The enrolled patients were divided into?ⅠB and?ⅡA groups based on tumor size according to the 8~(th) edition AJCC criteria. Clinical characteristics, including age, gender, race, tumor size, primary site, and grade were summarized. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to explore the prognostic factors of the?ⅠB and?ⅡA stages of pancreatic cancer under new criteria.RESULTS A total of 1349 pancreatic cancer patients were included. More patients had stage?ⅠB rather than stage?ⅡA. Stage?ⅠB tumors(54.85%) were mainly located in the head of the pancreas, while stage?ⅡA tumors were more often located in the tail and head of the pancreas(35.21% and 31.75%, respectively). The survival time of stage?ⅠB and?ⅡA patients had no significant difference. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that the prognostic factors of survival for stage?ⅠB and?ⅡA patients were different. for stage?ⅠB patients, age and primary site were the independent prognostic factors; for stage?ⅡA patients, age and grade were the independent prognostic factors. The risk of death was lower among patients aged ≤ 65 years than those aged > 65 years.CONCLUSION The prognostic factors for stage?ⅠB and?ⅡA patients are different, but age is the independent prognostic factor for all patients. The survival time of stage?ⅠB and?ⅡA patients has no significant difference. AIM To evaluate the changes in the 8th (American) Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) for defining stage IB and IIA pancreatic cancer and identify their prognostic factors. METHODS Pancreatic cancer patients were selected from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database (1973-2013). The enrolled patients were divided into? IB and? A groups based on tumor size according to the 8th (edition) edition AJCC criteria. Clinical characteristics, including age, gender, race, tumor size, primary site , and grade were summarized. Univariate and multivariate analyzes were performed to explore the prognostic factors of the? IB and? A stages of pancreatic cancer under new criteria. RESULTS A total of 1349 pancreatic cancer patients were included. stage? IB tumors (54.85%) were mainly located in the head of the pancreas, while stage? IIA tumors were more often located in the tail and head of the pancreas (35.21% and 31.75%, eachl y). The survival time of stage? IB and? A patients had no significant difference. Univariate and multivariate analyzes indicated that the prognostic factors of survival for stage? IB and? A patients were different. for stage? IB patients, age and primary site were the independent prognostic factors; for stage? IIA patients, age and grade were the independent prognostic factors. The risk of death was lower among patients aged ≤ 65 years than those aged> 65 years. CONCLUSION The prognostic factors for stage? IB and IIA patients are different, but age is the independent prognostic factor for all patients. The survival time of stage? IB and? A patients have no significant difference.