Treatment of pancreatic cancer: the role of surgery

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer shows an aggressive growth behavior which results in an extremely poor prognosis. It is presently the 4th to 5th leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Western countries with an incidence of 8-10 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Since current conservative oncological therapies fail to influence the long-term outcome, curative resection remains the only possibility with a potential for cure. During the past decades, a considerable decrease in postoperative mortality after pancreatic resection and a significant increase in the resection rate have been achieved. Although several types of pancreatic resection have evolved, standard procedures are the classical Whipple resection for cancers of the pancreatic head and left resection for cancers of pancreatic body and tail. Since the pylorus-preserving Whipple resection and extended Whipple resection are still debated as better alternatives to the classical Whipple procedure, large, controlled clinical trials in patients need to be conducted to reach reliable conclusions. However, there is mounting evidence that the pylorus-preserving Whipple procedure offers a better postoperative outcome than the classical Whipple operation without compromising radicality and thereby the long-term prognosis. Despite the progress in surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer, the overall prognosis following resection remains unsatisfactory to date. It is hoped that progress in multimodality treatment and modern therapies, resulting from both clinical and advanced basic research, can improve the prognosis of this malignancy in the near future.