Arterial and venous resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma: operative and long-term outcomes.

HYPOTHESIS: Aggressive preoperative and intraoperative management may improve the resectability rates and outcomes for locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma with venous involvement. The efficacy and use of venous resection and especially arterial resection in the management of pancreatic adenocarcinoma remain controversial.
DESIGN: Retrospective review of patients entered into prospective databases.
SETTING: Two tertiary referral centers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of 2 prospective databases of 593 consecutive pancreatic resections for pancreatic adenocarcinoma from January 1, 1999, through May 1, 2007.
RESULTS: Of the 593 patients, 36 (6.1%) underwent vascular resection at the time of pancreatectomy. Thirty-one of the 36 (88%) underwent venous resection alone; 3 (8%), combined arterial and venous resection; and 2 (6%), arterial resection (superior mesenteric artery resection) alone. Patients included 18 men and 18 women, with a median age of 62 (range, 42-82) years. The 90-day perioperative mortality and morbidity rates were 0% and 35%, respectively, compared with 2% and 39%, respectively, for the group undergoing nonvascular pancreatic resection (P = .34). Median survival was 18 (range, 8-42) months in the vascular resection group compared with 19 months in the nonvascular resection group. Multivariate analysis demonstrated node-positive disease, tumor location (other than head), and no adjuvant therapy as adverse prognostic variables.
CONCLUSIONS: In this combined experience, en bloc vascular resection consisting of venous resection alone, arterial resection alone, or combined vascular resection at the time of pancreatectomy for adenocarcinoma did not adversely affect postoperative mortality, morbidity, or overall survival. The need for vascular resection should not be a contraindication to surgical resection in the selected patient.