Subtotal pancreatectomy for cancer: closure of the pancreatic remnant with staplers.

This paper presents a 2-year series of 26 consecutive pancreatectomies for periampullary cancer where the pancreatic tail was closed with a stapler in order to avoid complications related to a pancreatico-digestive anastomosis. The follow-up period was 14 months or more. Seven patients developed operative complications. Pancreatic fistulas developed in 3 patients. The fistulas closed spontaneously in 2 of the patients after 2-4 months. Intraabdominal abscesses developed in 4 patients and required surgical drainage. In 1 of these patients, the abscess eroded a large vessel with a fatal outcome resulting in an operative mortality rate of 3.8%. A transient postoperative gastric stasis was observed in seven patients. Postoperative hospital median stay was 27 days (range 10-83 days). Eighteen patients have died after 4-30 months in recurrent disease and seven patients are alive after a follow-up period of 15-29 months. Pancreatic endocrine function seemed well preserved; diabetes mellitus has developed in only one patient. In conclusion, it appears that subtotal pancreatectomy with closure of the pancreatic remnant with staples gives a low morbidity and mortality. Although the conclusion should be tempered by the small number of patients, the results justify continued evaluation of this technique with long-term follow-up.