Background: Pancreatectomy for ductal adenocarcinoma has been performed with increasing frequency since the late 1980s as postoperative mortality decreased and long-term survival became more common. However, the belief persists among some clinicians that pancreatectomy offers little survival benefit. This report reviews our institutional experience with pancreatectomy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma and provides a critical overview of the controversies regarding the benefits of surgical intervention for patients who are candidates for curative resection.
Methods: We determined the survival of 142 patients who underwent pancreatectomy for ductal adenocarcinoma with curative intent (stage IA-IIB) at Moffitt Cancer Center during the last two decades by using data obtained from review of the medical record, the Moffitt Cancer Registry, and the Social Security Death Index. Histologic diagnosis was confirmed by expert review of stained sections cut from fixed surgical specimens.
Results: In the 137 patients who survived at least 30 days after surgery, the median survival was 21.2 months after resection, with Kaplan-Meier 3- and 5-year disease-specific survival rates of 36% and 32%, respectively. One patient has survived without evidence of recurrent disease for more than 15 years after pancreatectomy. Survival for patients greater than 75 year of age did not differ from that of younger patients. The postoperative mortality rate was 1.5% during the most recent years of highest operative volume (2003 to 2006) and 3.5% for the entire patient cohort.
Conclusions: Review of our 20-year experience with resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma indicates that pancreatectomy with curative intent offers a real chance of long-term survival to patients with this highly lethal disease for which there is no other curative modality.