Spanish multicenter study of surgical resection of pancreatic tumors infiltrating the celiac axis: does the type of pancreatectomy affect results?

BACKGROUND Pancreatectomy plus celiac axis resection (CAR) is performed in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The morbidity rates are high, and no survival benefit has been confirmed. It is not known at present whether it is the type of pancreatectomy, or CAR itself, that is the reason for the high complication rates. METHODS Observational retrospective multicenter study. INCLUSION CRITERIA patient undergoing TP, PD or DP plus CAR for a pancreatic cancer. RESULTS Sixty-two patients who had undergone pancreatic cancer surgery (PD,TP or DP) plus CAR were studied. Group 1: 17 patients who underwent PD/TP-CAR (13TP/4PD); group 2: 45 patients who underwent DP-CAR. Groups were mostly homogeneous. Operating time was longer in the PD/TP group, while operative complications did not differ statistically in the two groups. The number of lymph nodes removed was higher in the PD/TP group (26.5 vs 17.3), and this group also had a higher positive node ratio (17.9% vs 7.6%). There were no statistical differences in total or disease-free survival between the two groups. CONCLUSION It seems that CAR, and not the type of pancreatectomy, influences morbidity and mortality in this type of surgery. International multicenter studies with larger numbers of patients are now needed to validate the data presented here.