[Tumors of Vater's ampulla. Review of 25 cases]

Cancer of ampulla of Vater is a infrequent tumor which was a much better prognosis after radical treatment than cancer of the pancreas. In this paper, 25 patients were studied, with a mean age of 59 years and a slight male predominance. The most frequent symptoms were related to jaundice and weight loss. The correct preoperative diagnosis was only reached in 54.16% of the patients, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography being the best diagnostic method, together with ?CTPH. We emphasize the difficulty of reaching a diagnosis and the variable results of both pre- and peroperative biopsy. The results of surgical treatment (9 Whipple operations, 7 ampullectomies and 7 bypass operations) are evaluated, showing that duodenopancreatectomy is the most effective therapy, although we had only one 5-year survival, 11.1% versus 0% for ampullectomy, which is an operation that carriers an elevated recurrence rate (greater than 50%). The mortality derived from Whipple's operation was 22.2%, and from local excision, 14.3%. The rate of complications was 55.5% after cephalic duodenopancreatectomy and null after ampullectomy. In view of these results, we think that the most appropriate therapeutic approach to ampulloma is the Whipple operation, and that ampullectomy should be reserved for those patients in poor general condition with small tumors, and that bypass operations should be used when the tumor is not resectable.