Management and Outcome of 64 Patients with Pancreatic Serous Cystic Neoplasms

The optimal management approach to pancreatic serous cystic neoplasms (SCNs) is still evolving.

Consecutive patients with SCN managed at the Liverpool Pancreas Cancer Centre between 2000 and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed.

There were 64 patients consisting of 39 women (60.9%) and 25 men (39.1%). Forty-seven patients (73.4%) had surgical removal and 17 (26.6%) were observed. The possibility of a non-SCN malignancy was the predominant indication for resection in 27 (57.4%) patients. Postoperative morbidity occurred in 26 (55.3%) patients with 2 (4.3%) deaths. An increased risk of resection was associated with patient's age (p = 0.011), diagnosis before 2009 (p < 0.001), pain (p = 0.043), possibility of cancer (p = 0.009) and a solid SCN component on imaging (p = 0.002). Independent factors associated with resection were a diagnosis before 2009 (p = 0.005) and a solid SCN component (p < 0.001). Independent factors associated with shorter time to surgical resection were persistent pain (p = 0.003) and a solid SCN component (p = 0.007).

There was a reduction in the proportion of resections with the application of an observe-only policy for asymptomatic patients with more definite features of SCN. Improved criteria are still required in the remainder of patients with uncertain features of SCN in deciding for intervention or surveillance.