Resection of liver metastases after pancreatoduodenectomy: report of seven cases

There has been no English report of a long survivor after hepatectomy for metastasis from periampullary malignancies, who had previously undergone pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) for primary disease. Herein, we report 7 patients of liver metastases who underwent 8 hepatectomies after PD for peri-ampullary malignancies. One patient whose liver metastasis was neuroendocrine tumor, survived 2 years and 6 months without recurrence after hepatectomy. Another patient who had 2 hepatectomies for metastasis from duodenal leiomyosarcoma survived for 3 years and 20 days after the first hepatectomy. Procedure of hepatectomy comprised 4 limited resections (including 1 second hepatectomy) and 4 lobectomies at the first resection. Hepatic inflow clamp was used in 6 out of 8 hepatectomies and 4 out of 8 hepatectomies did not require allogeneic blood transfusion. Bacterial contamination of the drained discharge from the cut surface of the liver, mostly representative of enteric organisms, was identified in all but 2 patients who were not examined. Subphrenic abscesses developed in 2 patients after removal of the drains. Thus, prophylactic use of abdominal drain is indispensable after hepatectomy for the patients with bilioenteric anastomosis.