A repeated pancreatectomy in the remnant pancreas 22 months after pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

We report a case of a repeated curative pancreatic resection in the remnant distal pancreas 22 months after pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy (PpPD). The patient was a 52-year-old woman with a past history of PpPD for adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas 22 months prior to the present operation. The original tumor was histopathologically diagnosed as a papillary adenocarcinoma with clear surgical margin at the surgical cut end of the pancreas (R0, International Union Against Cancer [UICC] classification). Twenty months after the PpPD, a follow-up computed tomography (CT) scan showed multiple low-density lesions in the body and tail of the pancreas without any other distant metastasis. A second operation, curative resection of the remnant pancreas, with splenectomy and distal gastrectomy, was performed. The second tumor was a papillary adenocarcinoma, the same diagnosis as that of the first tumor, and it also showed similar histopathological findings, including immunohistochemical staining of Ki-67 and p53 protein, and the same pattern of K-ras point mutation. The patient is considered to have shown a rare, unique pancreatic cancer with metachronous carcinogenesis in the remnant pancreas.