[Surgical management of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms]

With increasing indence and peculiar clinico-pathological features, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas has been a major interest in the field of pancreatology. Although pathologic and clinical diversities make difficulty in decision of treatment of IPMN in some circumstances, surgical treatment is generally indicated for main duct IPMN and branch duct IPMN with suspected malignancy (tumor size > or = 30 mm, mural nodules, dilated main pancreatic duct, or positive cytology) or prominent symptoms. IPMN has a favorable prognosis after the resection. However, invasive IPMN shows poor prognosis comparable to stage-matched pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Conventional pancreatic resection is recommended in case of highly suspected malignant cases, and organ preserving pancreatectomy or minimal invasive surgery could be used, especially in benign looking branch duct IPMN. Before the surgical resection, clinician should consider patient's general and social condition as well as risk of malignancy to select proper type and extent of surgery.