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Mostly, patients with peri-pancreatic cancer (including pancreatic, ampullary and distal bile duct tumors) are diagnosed in a stage in which curative resection is not possible. The median survival rate of patients with non resectable peri-pancreatic cancer varies between 6 and 12 months. During this period palliative treatment is necessary, which should focus on major symptoms as obstructive jaundice, duodenal obstruction and pain. Controversy exists about how to provide optimal palliative treatment. Both surgical and non surgical palliative procedures relief obstructive jaundice. From early retrospective and prospective randomized studies it is known that in the early phase after treatment, more complications are found after surgical palliation, whereas in the late phase more complications are seen after endoscopic palliation. Because more recent studies clearly showed improved results after surgical palliation, current recommendations probably should be that patients with a suspected poor short-term survival (< 6 months) should be offered non surgical palliative therapy and those with a longer life expectancy may best be treated with bypass surgery. Unfortunately, valid criteria for estimating the remaining survival time are not available, except for the presence of metastases. The use of a prognostic score chart might assist in estimating the prognosis. Literature does not give sufficient information to make a well deliberated (evidence based) selection between the different types of surgical bypasses, but a choledochojejunostomy is generally preferred. After stenting, a correlation is found between survival and the development of duodenal obstruction, and between 9% and 21% of the patients who underwent a surgical biliary bypass without a prophylactic gastric bypass, will develop gastric outlet obstruction. Therefore, in patients with a relatively good prognosis it is recommended to perform routinely a double--biliary and gastric--bypass. Pain is a frequent symptom and is related with poor survival. Pain management aside from pain medication can be performed by means of a celiac plexus blockade or a thorascopic splanchnicectomy, and also radiotherapy seems to have a positive result on pain.

In patients with unresectable peripancreatic carcinoma, pain is generally treated with pain medication or with a celiac plexus blockade. Radiotherapy has also been reported to reduce pain. The efficacy of these treatment modalities is still under discussion. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the various types of pain management on patients who underwent palliative bypass surgery for unresectable peripancreatic carcinoma. During the period January 1995 to December 1998 a series of 98 patients underwent palliative bypass surgery, mostly for unresectable disease found during exploration. Patients were divided into three groups: palliative bypass surgery (BP), palliative bypass surgery with an intraoperative celiac plexus blockade (CPB), and palliative bypass surgery with or without celiac plexus blockade followed by high-dose conformal radiotherapy (RT). Radiotherapy was performed only in selected patients with locally advanced disease and without metastases, implying a better prognosis of the last group. The pain medication consumption, pain medication-free survival, hospital-free survival, and overall survival were analyzed. The preoperative consumption of pain medication was significantly higher in the CPB group than in the BP or RT group. The postoperative consumption of pain medication in the CPB, BP, and RT groups increased during follow-up from 15%, 17%, and 13% before surgery to 52%, 57%, and 46%, respectively, at three-fourths of the survival time (NS). This increase in consumption of pain medication was not different in the three groups. In the RT group the median pain medication-free survival was significantly longer than in the BP or CPB group (9.3 vs. 3.1 and 3.3 months; p = 0.02). The median hospital-free survival and median overall survival were significantly longer in the RT group than in the CPB group (10.3 vs. 6.8 months, p = 0.01; and 7.1 vs. 10.8 months, p = 0.01). Celiac plexus blockade as pain management did not result in an increase of the pain medication-free survival or overall survival. Therefore a positive effect of a celiac plexus blockade on pain could not be confirmed in the present study. Radiotherapy resulted in increased pain-medication survival, hospital-free survival, and overall survival compared to celiac plexus blockade. These effects are probably partly related to patient selection.

Aim: Survival after pancreaticoduodenectomy for periampullary tumours is limited. Over the last decade peri-operative management has improved and morbidity and mortality decreased. The aim of the study was to analyse recent survival data after pancreaticoduodenectomy and to determine factors that influence survival., Methods: From October 1992 to September 1998, 204 patients with a ductal adenocarcinoma in the pancreatic head (108), distal bile duct (32), and ampulla (64) who underwent standard pancreaticoduodenectomy, were analysed with regard to histology and tumour status. Survival was calculated by using the Kaplan-Meier method. Risk factors were identified in a univariate and multivariate analysis., Results: Median survival after resection for carcinoma of the pancreatic head, distal bile duct, and ampulla were 16, 25 and 24 months, respectively (P=0.008). In the univariate analysis vein resection, blood transfusion of more than four packed red cells, the presence of tumour positive resection margins, lymph-node metastases and poor tumour differentiation significantly decreased survival. In the multivariate analysis positive resection margins, lymph-node metastases, and poor tumour differentiation independently influenced survival., Conclusions: Resection margins, lymph-node status and tumour differentiation are independent prognostic factors. Survival after standard pancreaticoduodenectomy for periampullary tumours has not improved., (Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Limited.)

Background: Resection of the portal/superior mesenteric vein (PV/SMV) during pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) is disputed. Although morbidity and mortality are acceptable, survival is limited after PV/SMV resection. In this study, we evaluate the effect of PV/SMV resection., Methods: Between 1992 and 1998, there were 215 consecutive patients who underwent PD for malignant disease. Thirty-four patients underwent a PV/SMV resection. Resection was only performed when minimal venous ingrowth was found perioperatively. Surgical techniques, perioperative parameters, and survival were analyzed., Results: The percentage of PV/SMV resections was 16%. Extensive (segment) resections were performed in 6 patients. The median blood loss was 1.8 L and resection margins were microscopically tumor free in 41% of the patients. The median hospital stay was 15 days, and mortality was 0%. Median survival after PV/SMV resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma was 14 months., Conclusions: Limited PV/SMV resection for perioperatively encountered minimal venous ingrowth during PD can be performed safely without increased morbidity and mortality but also results in a high frequency of tumor-positive resection margins.

Controversy exists about the indication for a palliative pancreatoduodenectomy. A palliative resection for patients with a pancreatic carcinoma can be performed safely nowadays with low mortality and acceptable morbidity in centers with experience. The early results in terms of mortality and morbidity are not different from resections with curative intent or even after bypass surgery. The procedure seems effective for controlling symptoms of the disease, and the quality of life after a palliative resection is acceptable and not worse than after bypass surgery. It is, however, still doubtful whether the incidence of symptom recurrence, such as jaundice, obstruction, and pain, is lower after resection than after bypass surgery. The longer survival after palliative resection could also be due to patient selection and postoperative treatment. There are no randomized trials to prove the superiority of palliative resection over bypass surgery. The safety of pancreatic resection for cancer has already changed the policy in centers with experience, and surgeons are more willing to perform a resection because the results are better or at least the same as after bypass surgery. There are, however, no results to confirm that a palliative resection should be performed routinely or to justify resection as a debulking procedure.