Background: Prognosis of patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic body and tail is extremely poor. Anatomically, this part of the pancreas is thin, and cancerous invasion to the retropancreatic structures occurs easily. The majority of patients have residual tumor in the retroperitoneal tissues after conventional distal pancreatectomy.
Methods: Between 1962 and 1979, 10 patients with carcinoma of the pancreatic body underwent simple distal pancreatectomy. Between 1980 and 1990, 22 patients including 7 with distant metastasis underwent a more aggressive approach intended to achieve longer survival: distal pancreatectomy with extended dissection of the lymph nodes and adjacent structures, especially into the retropancreatic space. After 1984, intraoperative ŕadiation (IORT) by electron beam and chemotherapy by hepatic infusion plus systemic injection of mitomycin C (MMC) were added for 7 patients without distant metastasis.
Results: The 10 patients who underwent pancreatectomy between 1962 and 1979 all died within 20 months after their operations. Conversely, the patients treated with an aggressive approach between 1980 and 1990 survived longer; the 5-year survival rate for 15 patients without distant metastasis was 29%, though the 7 patients with distant metastasis died within 10 months of their operations. There were 4 long term survivors (> or = 5 years); 3 of whom received IORT and chemotherapy with MMC. Invasion to the retropancreatic soft tissues was present in 95% of the resected specimens from the 22 patients. However, invasion to the surgical margin at the posterior surface of the resected specimen was present in only 36% after extended resection of the retropancreatic structures.
Conclusions: Survival improved for this disease after distal pancreatectomy with extended dissection, especially of the retropancreatic structures, adjuvant IORT, and chemotherapy had been performed.