Laparoscopic surgery of pancreatic cancer: state of the art

The use of laparoscopy in pancreatic cancer offers a significant contribution to the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Both laparoscopic staging and treatment of pancreatic cancer have proved feasible and effective. This paper reviews the literature on this topic, by a Medline search using the words laparoscopy and pancreas. Various aspects are considered: staging, treatment and palliation. Cross-references from the articles retrieved were reviewed. The efficacy and safety of diagnostic laparoscopy and ultrasonography, lowering the rate of useless laparotomies, is evident in most studies. Moreover laparoscopic resection of the body and tail of the pancreas, as well as palliation of digestive obstruction has been demonstrated as feasible. Controversy exists on feasibility of pancreatoduodenectomy. Laparoscopic gastric outlet obstruction bypass and laparoscopic biliary decompression have been reported with good results compared to open surgical procedures. Randomized controlled trials are required to validate promising results coming from the reported series, mainly retrospective.