Pancreatogastrostomy after pancreatoduodenectomy: a safe, feasible reconstruction method?

Pancreatogastrostomy is a safe reconstructive technique after pancreatoduodenectomy, even when performed as an educational operation in the hands of relatively inexperienced surgeons in a high-volume hospital. Sixteen surgeons with various case volumes operated on 190 consecutive patients and performed pancreatogastrostomy after pancreatoduodenectomy within the last 15 years in a university teaching hospital. Resections were performed for tumors localized in the head of the pancreas, the ampulla of Vater, or the distal common bile duct or duodenum (n = 169); for chronic pancreatitis (n = 16); and for miscellaneous reasons in five cases. The main outcome measures were postoperative mortality and morbidity, particularly the pancreatic leakage rate with special regard to the case volume of the performing surgeon. The overall mortality rate was 4.2% (n = 8), the 30-day mortality rate was 3.2% (n = 6), and mortality directly related to surgery was 2.6% (n = 5). Morbidity occurred in 45%, including severe surgical complications, which required reoperation (9%), and minor surgical complications that could be managed conservatively (30%). There were no significant differences in overall surgical morbidity rates when the groups with varying patient volume per surgeon were compared. The incidence of pancreatic leakage was 7.4%, which did not contribute to mortality in any case and showed no statistical differences between the surgical volume groups. We concluded that pancreatogastrostomy is safe and feasible even in the hands of inexperienced but supervised surgeons. The leakage rate is similar to the data from other high-volume centers. Once a leak is established, it can easily be managed conservatively, so it rarely contributes to severe complications or causes subsequent mortality. We recommend pancreatogastrostomy as a beneficial alternative to pancreatojejunostomy, even in the case of low surgical volume.