An appraisal of segmental pancreatectomy for benign tumors of the pancreatic body: a report of two cases.

To preserve pancreatic and splenic function, segmental pancreatectomy with pancreatojejunostomy was performed on two patients with benign pancreatic tumors, and a 3-year follow-up study was conducted. The pancreatic endocrine functions assessed by 75 g oral glucose tolerance test were normal 3 years after surgery, and the exocrine functions returned to within the normal range 1 month after surgery according to a pancreatic function diagnostant (PFD) test. The platelet count increased transiently to 48.9 x 10(4)/mm3, and 70.5 x 10(4)/mm3, in the two patients, respectively, but returned to the preoperative value 1 month postoperatively. The operative times were 7 h 51 min and 5 h 3 min, which included the time taken for intraoperative ultrasonography and frozen section diagnosis, and the blood losses were 183 ml and 212 ml. The postoperative hospitalization period averaged 39 days and no complications developed in either patient. The method of performing segmental pancreatectomy, initially reported by Letton and Wilson for cases of pancreatic trauma, was evaluated and successfully applied to benign pancreatic tumors.