Objective: The authors examined the resectability, operative morbidity mortality, and survival of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma of the body and tail compared with lesions in the head.
Summary background data: Adenocarcinoma of the body and tail of the pancreas is characteristically thought of as a disease that presents late and rarely is operable or resectable.
Methods: In an 11-year period, 1981 patients were admitted and entered into a prospective database at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with a diagnosis of peripancreatic cancer, 1363 of whom had adenocarcinoma of the pancreas, 75% with lesions in the head and 25% with lesions in the body and tail.
Results: Of 271 patients resected, 237 (23%) had lesions in the head and 34 (10%) had body and tail lesions. Perioperative mortality was 4% for patients with pancreatic lesions in the head and 0% for patients with pancreatic lesions in the body and tail. Five-year actuarial survival for body and tail lesions was projected at 14% for 5 years. Actual survival was 19%, with three patients alive for more than 5 years.
Conclusions: Adenocarcinoma of the body and tail of the pancreas, although less likely to be resectable at presentation than lesions in the pancreatic head, have similar postresection survival.