Laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy for a metastatic tumor in a portal annular pancreas.

Background: Portal annular pancreas (PAP), also called circumportal pancreas, is a congenital pancreatic anomaly in which the portal and/or mesenteric veins are surrounded by pancreatic parenchyma [1,2]. Joseph et al. classified PAP into three types (according to the fusion pattern of the pancreatic parenchyma and ductal system [1]), each of which they subdivided (based on the relation to the portal confluence) into the suprasplenic, infrasplenic, and mixed type [1,3]. The most common type is IIIa [1,4], where the portal vein (suprasplenic) is encased by the uncinate process with an anteportal main pancreatic duct.

Methods: The patient was a 78-year-old woman who had undergone left nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma five years prior. We performed laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy for a metastatic tumor of the head of a type IIIa PAP (Fig. 1). The anteportal pancreas was transected, and dissection was performed around the superior mesenteric artery using a right approach. The retroportal pancreas was transected using a linear stapler with bioabsorbable polyglycolic acid felt. We performed pancreatojejunostomy for the anteportal stump of the pancreas containing a main pancreatic duct; the retroportal stump was not reconstructed, because it had no major pancreatic ducts on preoperative imaging.

Results: The operative time was 505 minutes, and the blood loss was 70 ml. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patients was discharged on postoperative day 12.

Conclusion: Laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy was performed successfully in a patient with a type IIIa PAP. The retroportal pancreas can be transected using a linear stapler, without reconstruction.