Effect of tumor size and lymph node status on the prognosis of pancreatic cancer

Between 1982 and 1987 186 patients with a carcinoma of the pancreas underwent surgery. In 69 patients (37%) a resective surgical procedure was performed. In these patients, lymph node staging was conducted intraoperatively. The operative mortality of the resection was 4.3%. The median survival of the resected patients with papillary carcinoma was 21 months and of the patients with ductal pancreatic carcinoma 7 months. A correlation between survival time and frequency as well as localization of the lymph node attack could be established. Only patients in the TNM stage I of a ductal carcinoma appeared to have profited significantly from the resection compared to the palliative procedure.