CARCINOMA OF THE AMPULLA OF VATER

The clinical characteristics of thirty-seven cases of carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater are presented. Thirty-one patients were explored. Two underwent biopsy only. A third had decompression of the biliary tree by a T tube. In three, biliary-enteric bypass was performed; three others underwent local definitive procedures. The remaining twenty-four patients were subjected to radical pancreaticoduodenectomy. Six patients who had undergone radical resection are alive and free of disease two and a half to seventeen years later. Two patients who had undergone a radical procedure died after two and five years without evidence of recurrence.