Total pancreatectomy for carcinoma of the pancreas.

Survival after partial pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple procedure) for carcinoma of the pancreas is uniformly poor. In the absence of nodal metastasis this may be due to extension of tumor beyond the line of resection of the pancreas or to a multicentric origin of the tumor. The material reviewed contained an illustration of the latter circumstance and provides a logical reason for recommending total pancreatectomy as the procedure of choice in resectable pancreatic carcinoma.