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Surgical resection strategies for locally advanced pancreatic cancer

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Abstract

Background

Despite all improvements in tumor diagnostics and treatment, pancreatic cancer is still the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world. It is mostly diagnosed at a locally advanced or metastasized stage because of the lack of early symptoms. A radical margin-free surgical resection offers the only potential cure for locoregional disease. Over the last decades, several surgical strategies and techniques have evolved to optimize oncologic radical resections and thus to improve long-term outcome of patients.

Purpose

The purpose of this review was to describe the various surgical strategies and techniques for locally advanced pancreatic cancer and to evaluate their influence on long-term outcome.

Conclusions

Locally advanced pancreatic cancer should not generally be deemed unresectable. Various surgical techniques offer a good chance of margin-free tumor resection, even if surrounding organs or vessels are involved. Because of potentially higher peri- and postoperative morbidity rates, patients should be selected properly and are best treated in specialized high-volume centers.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation, Vascular, and Thoracic Surgery, LMU University Hospital, Marchioninistraße 15, 81377, Munich, Germany

    Alexander Gluth, Jens Werner & Werner Hartwig

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  1. Alexander Gluth
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  2. Jens Werner
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  3. Werner Hartwig
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Correspondence to Werner Hartwig.

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Gluth, A., Werner, J. & Hartwig, W. Surgical resection strategies for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Langenbecks Arch Surg 400, 757–765 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00423-015-1318-7

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