Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 19, 2025
Modified Single-Loop Reconstruction for Pancreaticoduodenectomy
Published on: September 28, 2019
Open pancreaticoduodenectomy: setting the benchmark of time to functional recovery
Giovanni Marchegiani1, Giampaolo Perri2, Stefano Andrianello2
1Department of Surgery and Oncology, General and Pancreatic Surgery - The Pancreas Institute, University of Verona Hospital Trust - Verona University, P.le Scuro 10, 37134, Verona, Italy. giovanni.marchegiani@univr.it.
Purpose:
No accepted benchmarks for open pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) exist. The study assessed the time to functional recovery after open PD and how this could be affected by the magnitude of midline incision (MI).
Materials And Methods:
Prospective snapshot study during 1 year. Time to functional recovery (TtFR) was assessed for the entire cohort. Further analyses were conducted after excluding patients developing a Clavien-Dindo ≥ 2 morbidity and after stratifying for the relative length of MI.
Results:
The overall median TtFR was 7 days (n = 249), 6 days for uncomplicated patients (n = 124). A short MI (SMI, < 60% of xipho-pubic distance, n = 62) was compared to a long MI (LMI, n = 62) in uncomplicated patients. The choice of a SMI was not affected by technical issues and provided a significantly shorter TtFR (5 vs 6 days, p = 0.002) especially for pain control (4 vs. 5 days, p = 0.048) and oral food intake (5 vs. 6 days, p = 0.001).
Conclusion:
Functional recovery after open PD with MI is achieved within 1 week from surgery in half of the patients. This should be the appropriate benchmark for comparison with minimally invasive PD. Moreover, PD with a SMI is feasible, safe, and associated with a faster recovery.
