Surgery of Cystic Tumors of the Pancreas - Why, When, and How?

The management of cystic pancreatic neoplasms has increasingly gained clinical attention due to their frequent incidental detection by cross-sectional imaging and their potential for progression to pancreatic cancer. Surgical resection is warranted for all mucinous cystic neoplasms, solid pseudopapillary neoplasms, and main-duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms since these lesions harbor a major risk for malignant transformation. For branch-duct IPMN (BD-IPMN), the risk for malignancy is considerably lower so that some lesions may be safely followed while others require surgical resection. The clinical challenge lies in making the correct preoperative diagnosis and estimation of the risk of malignancy in BD-IPMN. Therefore, the existing evidence and current guidelines on the management of cystic lesions of the pancreas are summarized and controversially discussed from a surgical point of view.