[Cystic tumors of the pancreas]

Thirty-three patients were operated on for cystic tumors of the pancreas at the Vishnevsky Institute of Surgery in 1980-90. Cystadenoma of the pancreas was found in 16 (48.5%) of them and cystadenocarcinoma in 15 (45.5%). Fifteen (45.5%) patients had been previously operated on in different institutions presumably for a "cyst" of the pancreas, 6 of them repeatedly; the tumor recurred rapidly in all of them. In the Institute 30 patients underwent radical operations: 30 distal resection of the pancreas and 5 pancreatoduodenal resection. Diagnostic and palliative manipulations were performed on 3 patients. Postoperative lethality was 9.1% (3 patients). Postoperative follow-up periods lasted from 12 months to 9 years. Dissemination of the tumor occurred in 2 patients two years after the operation. The remaining 25 patients are alive and capable of working.