Pancreatic juice leakage is a risk factor for deep mycosis after pancreatic surgery

Deep mycosis (DM) is an opportunistic infection that can be fatal in immunocompromised hosts. Pancreatic surgery is associated with a high degree of stress and patients who undergo pancreatic surgery are considered to be immunocompromised. This study retrospectively evaluated whether DM affects the clinical course after pancreatic surgery.

Between January 2005 and April 2007, 67 patients underwent pancreatic surgery. There were 42 males (62.7%) and 25 females (37.3%) with a mean age of 66.7 years. Their diagnoses consisted of cancer of the papilla of Vater (n = 9), pancreatic head cancer (n = 20), pancreatic tail cancer (n = 3), bile duct cancer (n = 17), duodenal cancer (n = 3), and others (n = 15). Surgical procedures included pancreatoduodenectomies (PD; n = 52), hepato-pancreatoduodenectomies (HPD; n = 4), distal pancreatectomies (DP; n = 7), total pancreatectomies (TP; n = 2), and the modified Puestow procedure (m-Pp; n = 2). Patients who were positive for any of CAND-TEC (C-T), beta-D-glucan (beta-D), or culture for mycosis were classified into group 1 (G1; n = 12) and those who were negative for all these examinations were classified into group 2 (G2; n = 55). The preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative data were compared between G1 and G2. An antifungal drug (Micafungin; 75 mg per day) was given to G1 patients.

The preoperative data included the neutrophil and lymphocyte counts, total protein, blood urea nitrogen, and amylase, and there were no significant differences in these parameters between the two groups. However, the incidences of diabetes mellitus and total bilirubin at maximum in G1 and G2 were 41.7% and 7.3% (P = 0.04), 4.6 +/- 1.5 and 1.4 +/- 0.9 (P = 0.007), respectively. The mean operation time in G1 and G2 was 548.5 +/- 138.1 and 510.0 +/- 133.7 min (P = 0.39) and intraoperative blood loss was 762.2 +/- 369.5 and 782.5 +/- 599.1 ml (P = 0.88), respectively. The postoperative complications included pneumonia (G1: G2 = 7: 20; P = 0.14), pleural effusion (7: 24; P = 0.27) and ascites (10: 33; P = 0.11), with no significant intergroup differences. However, the respective durations of pancreatic juice leakage in G1 and G2 were 12 and 12, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.01). All the G1 patients were treated with the antifungal drug for 7.8 days. Postoperative hospital stays in G1 and G2 were 47.3 days and 38.7 days, respectively (P = 0.15) and the survival rates at 19 months after surgery were 46.7% and 79.4%, respectively (P = 0.04).

Deep mycosis was observed in patients with pancreatic juice leakage, thus contributing to a poor outcome. Therefore, an early diagnosis of DM and the initiation of antifungal treatment are necessary for the improving prognosis.