Distal pancreatectomy in chronic pancreatitis

The indications for a resective procedure in chronic pancreatitis are severe pain and local complications. The aim of this study, based on prospectively assessed data, was to evaluate distal pancreatectomy in patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis localized in the corpus and cauda of the pancreatic gland.

Seventy-four patients undergoing distal pancreatectomy were evaluated pre- and postoperatively (after a median observation period of 58 months) for pain, professional status, alcohol consumption, and endocrine function as measured by the glucose tolerance test preoperatively.

The indication for operation was severe therapy-resistant pain in nearly all patients and an inflammatory tumor or pancreatic pseudocysts in over 50% of the patients. One fourth of the patients were operated in order to exclude malignancy. Ninety-five percent of the patients underwent distal pancreatectomy, only in 4 cases (5%) was a subtotal (Child) resective procedure performed. In 34% of patients undergoing distal pancreatectomy a splenectomy could be avoided. The early postoperative complications were few and mostly due to the severe comorbidity of the patients. During the median observation period of 58 months 14.7% of the patients died due to diseases not related to distal pancreatectomy. Six percent of the patients could not be reevaluated and were lost to follow-up. In the remaining 59 patients 88% had significantly less pain and 66% had an increase in median body weight of 8 kg. Fifty percent of the patients had full or partial professional rehabilitation, one fourth was unemployed and 24% had retired due to age. 51.7% had a normal endocrine function as assessed by the glucose tolerance test, 16.2 and 21.6% had a latent or manifest diabetes mellitus, respectively. In 74.5% of all patients the endocrine function did not worsen during the observation period.

In comparison to conservative treatment distal pancreatectomy is a suitable therapeutic measure in patients with severe pain and local complications. It significantly improves the quality of life of patients without compromising endocrine function. Postoperative lethality is lower than in conservatively treated patients and is not related to distal pancreatectomy.