Metastasectomy of pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma to solid organ: The current evidence

Pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma have not generally been included in the tumour types considered for metastasectomy. However, there is an increasing interest that metastasectomy in well-selected patients can prolong survival. This review aims to establish the recent evidence on the surgical management of oligometastatic disease and survival outcome in patients who underwent metastasectomy focusing on isolated hepatic and pulmonary metastases.

A systematic search was performed in the PubMed database to identify all original articles on the role of metastasectomy for oligometastasis of pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma. Data on methodologies used, 1,3,5 - year survival and median overall survival were summarized, and used to address relevant clinical questions related to the survival outcome in patients who underwent metastasectomy.

Sixteen studies were included in this review. All the studies included were retrospective and heterogenous in nature and did not have a uniform reporting on survival outcomes.

There is insufficient evidence to support a change of current practice in managing metastatic pancreatic and periampullary cancer. However, patients with ampullary cancer as the primary and any patients with first recurrence as isolated pulmonary metastases had better prognosis than patients with synchronous metastasis or metastases to the liver. This need to be explored in future studies.