Solid Pseudopapillary Tumor of the Pancreas: Is Enucleation Safe?

While solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas are oncologically low-risk tumors, their resection with pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) or partial pancreatectomy (PP) carries a significant risk for morbidity. To balance the favorable prognosis with the surgical morbidity of pancreas resection, this study explores the oncologic safety of enucleation (EN).

The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was queried for resected SPT from January 2004 through December 2020. Perioperative outcomes and survival were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis tests, and Kaplan-Meier analysis (with log-rank test). Survival analysis was performed to compare patients with and without lymph node (LN) metastases and binary logistic regression for predictors of LN metastasis.

A total of 922 patients met inclusion criteria; 18 patients (2%) underwent EN, 550 (59.6%) underwent PP, and 354 (38.4%) underwent PD. Mean tumor size was 57.6 mm. Length of hospital stay was significantly shorter for EN compared with PP and PD groups (3.8 versus 6.2 versus 9.4 days, p < 0.001). There was a nonsignificant improvement in unplanned readmission [0% versus 8% versus 10.7% (p = 0.163)], 30-day mortality [0% versus 0.5% versus 0% (p = 0.359)], and 90-day mortality [0% versus 0.5% versus 0% (p = 0.363)] between EN, PP, and PD groups. Survival analyses showed no difference in OS when comparing EN versus PP (p = 0.443), and EN versus PD (p = 0317). Patients with LN metastases (p < 0.001) fared worse, and lymphovascular invasion, higher T category (T3-4) and M1 status were found as predictors for LN metastasis.

EN may be considered for select patients leading to favorable outcomes. Because survival was worse in the rare cohort of patients with LN metastases, the predictors for LN metastasis identified here may aid in stratifying patients to EN versus resection.