Whipple's resection-proximal pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD)

Pancreatic resection offers the potential for long-term cure in 15% of patients with pancreatic cancer. This article describes the author's technique of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), together with guidelines for disease staging, pre-operative work-up and patient selection. The role of neo-adjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy is currently under evaluation and all patients who have a curative resection should be considered for entry into the ESPAC 3 trial that aims to establish the definitive role of adjuvant chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer.