[Importance of surgical staging in patients with cancer of the exocrine pancreas].

A retrospective analysis of 64 patients with adenocarcinoma of the exocrine pancreas was carried out to determine the impact of stage of the disease and surgical treatment on survival. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in the survival rates of stage I (36%), stage II (12%), stage III (15%) and stage IV (0%). Patients with pancreatectomy had better prognosis (32%) than those with palliative procedures (11%) (p < 0.025). The presence of positive lymph nodes in patients with tumor resection didn't show significant differences on survival. Survivors showed a short prodome of symptoms (< 3 weeks) and a resected neoplasm (p < 0.025).