Abstract
Small pancreatic tumors (<2 cm diameter) are more likely to be resectable than larger ones. However, they have usually metastasized to lymph nodes by the time they are diagnosed, and exhibit other characteristics associated with a poor prognosis (e.g., pancreatic capsular invasion, retroperitoneal invasion). Thus, resection is not likely to be curative. In fact, most of the reported long-term survivors after resection for pancreatic cancer had tumors larger than 2 cm, and some have tumors >4 cm in diameter. The implications of these observations are discussed.
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Submitted by invitation to the Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery