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Aim: To assess the viability of orthotopic and heterotopic patient-derived pancreatic cancer xenografts implanted into nude mice., Methods: This study presents a prospective experimental analytical follow-up of the development of tumours in mice upon implantation of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma samples. Specimens were obtained surgically from patients with a pathological diagnosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Tumour samples from pancreatic cancer patients were transplanted into nude mice in three different locations (intraperitoneal, subcutaneous and pancreatic). Histological analysis (haematoxylin-eosin and Masson's trichrome staining) and immunohistochemical assessment of apoptosis (TUNEL), proliferation (Ki-67), angiogenesis (CD31) and fibrogenesis (α-SMA) were performed. When a tumour xenograft reached the target size, it was re-implanted in a new nude mouse. Three sequential tumour xenograft generations were generated (F1, F2 and F3)., Results: The overall tumour engraftment rate was 61.1%. The subcutaneous model was most effective in terms of tissue growth (69.9%), followed by intraperitoneal (57.6%) and pancreatic (55%) models. Tumour development was faster in the subcutaneous model (17.7 ± 2.6 wk) compared with the pancreatic (23.1 ± 2.3 wk) and intraperitoneal (25.0 ± 2.7 wk) models ( P = 0.064). There was a progressive increase in the tumour engraftment rate over successive generations for all three models (F1 28.1% vs F2 71.4% vs F3 80.9%, P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in tumour xenograft differentiation and cell proliferation between human samples and the three experimental models among the sequential generations of tumour xenografts. However, a progressive decrease in fibrosis, fibrogenesis, tumour vascularisation and apoptosis was observed in the three experimental models compared with the human samples. All three pancreatic patient-derived xenograft models presented similar histological and immunohistochemical characteristics., Conclusion: In our experience, the faster development and greatest number of viable xenografts could make the subcutaneous model the best option for experimentation in pancreatic cancer., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: To the best of our knowledge, no conflict of interest exist.

Introduction: The anatomical variants of the hepatic artery may have important implications for pancreatic cancer surgery. The aim of our study is to compare the outcome following a pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) in patients with or without a variant hepatic artery arising from superior mesenteric artery., Material and Methods: We reviewed 151 patients with periampullary tumoral pathology. All patients underwent oncological PD between January 2005 and February 2012. Our series was divided into two groups: Group A: Patients with a hepatic artery arising from superior mesenteric artery; and Group B: Patients without a hepatic artery arising from superior mesenteric artery. We expressed the results as mean +/- standard deviation for continuous variables and percentages for qualitative variables. Statistical tests were considered significant if p < 0.05., Results: We identified 11 patients with a hepatic artery arising from superior mesenteric artery (7.3%). The most frequent variant was an aberrant right hepatic artery (n = 7), following by the accessory right hepatic artery (n = 2) and the common hepatic artery trunk arising from the superior mesenteric artery (n = 2). In 73% of cases the diagnosis of the variant was intraoperative. R0 resection was performed in all patients with a hepatic artery arising from superior mesenteric artery. There were no significant differences in the tumor resection margins and the incidence of postoperative complications., Conclusion: Oncological PD is feasible by the presence of a hepatic artery arising from superior mesenteric artery. The complexity of having it does not seem to influence in tumor resection margins, complications and survival.