[Total pancreatectomy. Which indications?]

This a review of the different topics held by literature for and against total pancreatectomy (TP) for adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Technical and oncological aspects are discussed as are the metabolic effects of TP; metabolic data of our series of 6 TP are also referred. Postoperative mortality and morbidity decreased to less than 5% during the last decade both for TP and the Whipple procedure; long term survival is also similar for the two procedures. Even if the metabolic consequences of both exocrine and endocrine function deprivation are generally well compensated, they can still threaten the patient's life; furthermore their long term effects are only partially known. These are the reasons that force most authors to choose TP only in selected patients in which a multifocal neoplasia is demonstrated or whose pancreatic remnant is particularly soft and friable with high risk of pancreatojejunostomy complication. A pancreatic remnant in fact grants the hormonal milieu that makes easy the pharmacological control of any pancreatic function deficiency.