Experience with pancreatoduodenectomy in a cancer hospital

Records of twenty-nine patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, ampulla of Vater, common bile duct, and colon who were treated with pancreatoduodenectomy were reviewed. Operative mortality was 24 per cent. Survival was adversely affected by incomplete excision of the primary lesion, the presence of metastases in lymph nodes, and severe biliary obstruction. Twenty-two patients (76 per cent) died from the operation or were not cured. Pancreatoduodenectomy was of dubious value in the treatment of carcinoma of the head of the pancreas.