New pancreas-preserving total duodenectomy technique

Pancreas-preserving total duodenectomy (PPTD) was first described by Chung et al. in 1994. Since then, several surgeons have used PPTD to treat diseases that involve the duodenum diffusely but not the head of the pancreas, mostly familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). The PPTD method has been changed in each report and seems to have improved over time. We performed PPTD on three patients with different diseases--one with intestinal hemorrhage due to small intestinal amyloidosis; another with numerous duodenal gastrinomas in a patient with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES); and the third with numerous duodenal polyposis and FAP--using a new method that is simpler and safer than those previously reported. When resecting the whole duodenum, we performed mucosectomy of the major papillar portion and saved the structure of the major papilla. After an approximately 8 mm long sphincteropapillotomy, the opened major papilla was anastomosed to an incisional opening of the small intestine. The orifice of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) was stented by a catheter, and the MPD was kept intact under direct vision during the operative procedures. The head of the pancreas was fixed with the small intestine by interrupted 4-0 silk sutures. Reconstruction of the alimentary tract was performed after either the Billroth I or the Billroth II method. This is the first report of PPTD in which the entire MPD was preserved to simplify the biliopancreatic-ductal reconstruction.