Contemporary single-center surgical experiences in redo procedures of the pancreas: improved outcome and reduction of operative risk.

INTRODUCTION: Redo procedures of the pancreas are complex operations associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates. The operative risk may be minimised when indications for redo procedure are well reflected and operation is performed by an experienced surgeon. The aim of this study was to confirm this hypothesis evaluating our experiences with redo procedures.
METHODS: We reviewed 28 patients (mean age of 54 years; range 11-75 years) undergoing a redo procedure of the pancreas from January 2004 to June 2008 at our hospital. The term redo procedure was defined as a pancreatic reoperation that was carried out after preceding pancreatic surgery. Relaparotomies following acute complications after pancreatic surgery were not taken into consideration.
RESULTS: The following parameters were evaluated: median operative time 332 min (range 160-730 min), median intraoperative blood loss 625 ml (range 300-2,800 ml), median postoperative stay on Intensive Care Unit 20 h (range 0-112 h), median postoperative hospital stay 15 days (range 7-98), morbidity (14%), and mortality (3.6%).
CONCLUSIONS: Redo procedures of the pancreas can be performed with low complication rates. In order to achieve a satisfactory outcome, the indication of redo procedures has to be well reflected, and operation may be performed by specialised and experienced surgeons.