The role of central pancreatectomy in pancreatic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare the clinical outcomes of central pancreatectomy (CP) with distal pancreatectomy (DP) and pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). Methods A systematic literature research in PubMed/Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library was performed to identify articles reporting CP from January 1983 to November 2017. Results Fifty studies with 1305 patients undergoing CP were identified. The overall morbidity, mortality, pancreatic fistula (PF) rate and reoperation rate was 51%, 0.5%, 35% and 4% respectively. Endocrine and exocrine insufficiency were occurred in 4% and 5% of patients after CP. Meta-analysis of CP versus DP favored CP with regard to less blood loss (WMD = −143.4, P = 0.001), lower rates of endocrine (OR = 0.13, P  Conclusions CP maintains pancreatic endocrine and exocrine function better than DP and PD, but is associated with a higher PF rate.