Radical surgical treatment for cystic neoplasms of the pancreas: personal experience.

BACKGROUND Cystic neoplasms comprise 1-10% of all pancreatic neoplasms. Most authors recommend resection due to the difficulties in differentiating benign from malignant tumors prior to operation. We performed an analysis on the radical surgical handling of patients with cystic neoplasms of the pancreas. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analyzed data of all patients with pancreatic neoplasms who were treated by potentially curative surgical treatment by a single surgeon (A.D.C.). Postoperative survival and complications were recorded. RESULTS Between August 1983 and November 2003, the aforementioned surgeon performed 77 pancreatic resections for pancreatic tumors. Nine of those operations were performed for cystic neoplasms of the pancreas. All patients submitted to partial pancreatic resections were discharged in good health. The patient that underwent a total pancreatectomy died nine days after the procedure. At a mean follow up of 44 months, there has been one local recurrence with death. CONCLUSIONS Cystic tumors of the pancreas accounted for 11.7 % of the neoplasms studied in our series. Resection of those neoplasms attained by distal pancreatectomy is a safe procedure. PD is a risky procedure and should be viewed cautiously. Total pancreatectomy remains as a high-risk procedure and should be avoided.