The role of extended radical operation for pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To clarify the indication of extended operation for pancreatic carcinoma, a clinical study was carried out.

METHODOLOGY

From July 1981 to 1999, 196 of 307 (63.8%) patients with pancreatic carcinoma underwent resection of the tumor. Portal vein resection was performed in 145 of these 196 (74.0%) resected cases. The postoperative survival rate was studied according to the operative and histopathological findings.

RESULTS

In spite of the aggressive surgery, there was no patient who survived over 3 years after operation in the group carcinoma-positive on the surgical margins. Patients who survived over 3 years postoperatively were observed in the group of carcinoma-free surgical margins.

CONCLUSIONS

The most important indication of extended operation combined with portal vein resection for pancreatic cancer is to obtain surgical cancer-free margins. There is no indication of extended operation for cases in which surgical margins will become cancer-positive, if such an operation is employed.