[2 cases of substitution of the portal vein with a dacron prosthesis during pancreatectomy for carcinoma of the head of the pancreas].

The Authors report their experience concerning two cases of pancreatic carcinoma in which growth involvement of retropancreatic venous peduncle required the removal of a tract 6 and 8 cm long of the mesenteric-portal axis and its replacement with knitted dacron graft. The first patient died 8 months later due to massive pulmonar and hepatic metastases. The second patient died in the early post-operative course due to septic shock and dacron graft did not show any evidence of lumen obstruction at post-mortem examination. In spite of the lack of controlled clinical trials which provide a well defined method of staging for carcinoma of the pancreas, the authors' experience shows the possibility of extending radical resections also to cases which usually are considered unresectable and in absence of politetrafluoroethylene graft also with the use of interposed knitted dacron graft good results can be achieved.