Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026
Robotic Pancreatoduodenectomy for Pancreatic Head Cancer: a Case Report of a Standardized Technique
Published on: June 24, 2022
Neoadjuvant chemoradiation and pancreaticoduodenectomy for initially locally advanced head pancreatic adenocarcinoma
O Turrini1, F Viret, L Moureau-Zabotto
1Department of Surgical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes and Université de Méditerranée Marseille, France. oturrini@yahoo.fr
Background:
The most accepted treatment for locally advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma (LAPA) is chemoradiotherapy (CRT). We sought to determine the benefit of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) in patients with LAPA initially treated by neoadjuvant CRT.
Methods:
From January 1996 to December 2006, 64 patients with LAPA (borderline, n=49; unresectable, n=15) received 5-fluorouracil-cisplatin-based CRT. Of the 64 patients, 47 had progressive disease at restaging. Laparotomy was performed for 17 patients, and PD was performed in 9 patients (resected group). Fifty-five patients had CRT followed by gemcitabine-based chemotherapy (unresected group).
Results:
The median survival and overall 5 years survival duration of all 64 patients were 14 months and 12%, respectively. The mean delay between diagnosis and surgical resection was 5.5 months. Mortality and morbidity from PD were 0% and 33%, respectively. The median survival of the resected group vs. the unresected group was 24 months vs. 13 months. Three specimens presented a major pathological response at histological examination. No involved margins were found and positive lymph nodes were found in one patient. Resected patients developed distant metastases.
Conclusions:
PD after CRT was safe and resected patients had interesting survival rates. However, resected patients developed metastatic disease and new neoadjuvant regimens are needed to improve the survival of these patients.
