Retroperitoneal dissection in patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: operative principles and techniques.

Pancreatectomy with aggressive vascular resection is increasingly being recognized as an appropriate treatment strategy for patients with borderline resectable PDAC after administration of chemotherapy and/or chemoradiation. Because tumor downstaging is an uncommon event, both venous and hepatic arterial resection and reconstruction might be necessary to achieve negative surgical margins and the favorable short-term and long-term outcomes we have reported previously. The technical approaches we have described here can be used as a basic foundation for operative safety and efficiency during these challenging operations.