Ravikumar R et al. – This retrospective study assessed the effect of portal vein infiltration and types of venous reconstruction in surgery for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer patients. It was concluded that the 3 modes of venous reconstruction showed no difference in morbidity and venous tumor infiltration and had no effect on overall survival.

Methods

• This was a retrospective cohort study of pancreaticoduodenectomy in 229 patients undergoing vein resection for T3 adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas.

Results

• The results demonstrated that 56.3% of patients underwent primary closure, 27.9% had an end–to–end anastomosis, and 15.7% had an interposition graft.
• Among the 3 groups, there was no difference in overall morbidity (20.2%, 22%, and 25%) and in–hospital mortality (4.7%, 3%, and 6%).
• About 47.5% of patients had histological evidence of vein involvement, 26.5% had superficial invasion, and 21.1% had deep invasion.