Regional pancreatectomy for cancer of the pancreas, ampulla and other related sites

Abstract

Regional pancreatectomy refers to an en bloc removal of a tumor in or adjacent to the pancreas with an adequate soft tissue margin and with its regional lymphatic drainage. The pancreatic segment of portal vein is part of the en bloc resection with venous reconstruction by end-to-end anastomosis without a graft. This operation, called a Type I regional pancreatectomy, may utilize either a total or subtotal removal of the pancreas. Localized arterial involvement by a neoplasm necessitates adding a segmental resection of the artery with vascular reconstruction, a Type II procedure. Sixty-one patients have had this procedure from 1972 through December 1982. Thirty-four patients had an infiltrating duct adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, 22 had other malignant tumors, 4 were classified as having pancreatitis, and a fifth had a pseudolymphoma. The resectability rate is about 30 per cent. The present operative mortality rate is 4 per cent by 30 days and 8 per cent after 30 days. One-third of the patients are presently alive; 45 per cent of the 22 patients with malignant tumors other than infiltrating duct adenocarcinoma of the pancreas are alive with a median survival time of 391/2 months ranging from 3 to 92 months. More than 80 per cent of patients with infiltrating duct adenocarcinoma of the pancreas had advanced stage of the disease (T3 or T4 and Stage II or III cancers); twenty-one per cent are presently alive, 29 per cent died of recurrent disease, and 24 per cent died of other causes. The optimal treatment for patients with cancers in the region of the head of the pancreas is a regional subtotal pancreatectomy Type I or Type II followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.