Pancreatic adenocarcinoma with venous involvement: is up-front synchronous portal-superior mesenteric vein resection still justified? A survey of the Association Française de Chirurgie.

Background: Venous resection (VR) during pancreatectomy has been reported to neither increase mortality nor morbidity and to provide similar survival outcomes in same stage tumors. However, controversy remains regarding the indications for up-front surgery according to the degree of venous involvement.

Methods: From 2004 to 2009, 1,399 patients included in a French multicenter survey underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy or total pancreatectomy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, either without VR (997 standard resections [SR]) or with VR (402 patients; 29 %). Postoperative and long-term outcomes were compared in both groups.

Results: VR was associated with the following factors: larger tumors (p < 0.001), poorly differentiated tumors (p = 0.004), higher numbers of positive lymph nodes (p = 0.042), and positive resection margins (R1; p < 0.001). Overall, VR increased neither postoperative morbidity nor postoperative mortality (5 vs. 3 % in SR patients; p = 0.16). The median and 3-year survival rates in VR patients versus SR patients were 21 months and 31 % vs. 29 months and 44 %, respectively (p = 0.0002). In the entire cohort, multivariate analysis identified VR as a significant poor prognostic factor for long-term survival (hazard ratio [HR] 1.75, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.28-2.40; p = 0.0005). In the VR patients, lymph node ratio, whatever the cutoff (<0.3: p = 0.093; ≥ 0.3: p = 0.0098), R1 resection (p = 0.010), and segmental resection (p = 0.016) were independent risk factors; neoadjuvant treatment (HR 0.52, 95 % CI 0.29-0.94; p = 0.031) and adjuvant treatment (HR 0.55, 95 % CI 0.35-0.85; p = 0.006) were significantly associated with improved long-term survival.

Conclusions: Long-term survival after pancreatectomy was significantly altered when up-front VR was performed. Neoadjuvant treatment may be a better strategy than up-front resection in patients with preoperative suspicion of venous involvement.