[En bloc resection including the superior mesenteric artery and vein of locally advanced pancreatic carcinomas].

Curative resection has been shown to be one of the key factors affecting the survival of patients with carcinomas of the head of the pancreas. However, local recurrence is very common, and Esposito and colleagues stated that: "Most pancreatic cancer resections are R1 resections." In 2002, we developed a new method for en bloc resection of the pancreatic head including the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and vein (SMV) for pancreatic head carcinoma with portomesenteric invasion, called "augmented regional pancreatoduodenectomy (ARPD)." The technical and general eligibility criteria for ARPD are: 1) presumed achievement of R0 status; 2) tumor infiltration proximal to the SMV and SMA; and 3) tumor respecting the hepatic artery, splenic artery, and celiac trunk and neither hepatic nor paraaortic nodal metastasis. Between 2002 and 2010, 17 patients underwent ARPD in our institution. Postoperative death occurred in 2 patients. One death occurred after full-dose radiotherapy and the other after rupture of an aortic aneurysm. The surgical margins (R0) were histologically negative in 14 patients (82%). The overall 5-year survival probabilities were 24% in R0. Three patients survived more than 5 years. The ARPD procedure has advantages in obtaining sufficient margins at the uncinate and posterior site in patients with pancreatic head carcinoma.