Role of surgery in ductal carcinoma of the pancreas.

Data of 111 patients with ductal carcinoma of the pancreas examined over a decade (1979-1989) at the 1st Department of Surgery, "La Sapienza" University of Rome, are presented. 21.6% of them underwent pancreatic resection and 40.5% biliodigestive diversion. Resectability was 26.5% for tumors of the head, 11.8% for tumors of the body and tail, nil for diffuse tumors. Overall operative mortality was 13.5%. Only stage I patients were shown to be resectable for cure and benefited from surgery with 21% probability of 5-year survival.