Prognostic Analysis of Distal Pancreatectomy for Pancreatic Body and/or Tail Cancer Involving the Portal Vein: Is Pancreatic Body and/or Tail Cancer Involving the Portal Vein Resectable?

OBJECTIVES

To the best of our knowledge, the prognostic impact of distal pancreatectomy (DP) for pancreatic body and/or tail cancer involving portal vein (PV) has not been analyzed.

METHODS

A total of 155 patients with pancreatic body and/or tail cancer who were eligible candidates for resection between 2002 and 2017 were analyzed.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven patients had PV contact ≤180°. Fifteen patients underwent preoperative treatment; finally, 132 patients underwent DP, and 21 underwent DP with celiac axis resection. The overall survival (OS) of the PV contact group (n = 27, median survival time [MST], 25.6 months) was worse than the non-PV contact group (n = 128; MST, 58.4 months; P = 0.002); however, it was better than the unresectable group (MST, 14.2 months; P = 0.011). The OS of the PV contact with preoperative chemotherapy group (MST, not available) was comparable to the non-PV contact group and better than the PV contact without preoperative chemotherapy group (MST, 13.4 months; P = 0.017). The multivariate analysis identified PV contact ( P = 0.046) as one of the independent prognostic factors of OS.

CONCLUSIONS

Pancreatic body and/or tail cancer contact with PV ≤180° should be considered borderline resectable because of poor survival.