Arterial resection during operative management of pancreatic head and uncinate process adenocarcinoma: a systematic review.

Background: Surgical resection is a part of the treatment pathways for the management of pancreatic cancer with arterial involvement. Arterial resection in this context is however not widely supported due to the paucity and diversity of the reported evidence in the literature. The aim of this systematic review is the presentation and analysis of the current evidence in the field.

Methods: A systematic literature search of PubMed, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library was performed for eligible studies, following the PRISMA guidelines. Information on baseline characteristics, peri-operative outcomes, survival outcomes and histopathological findings were extracted for pooling and analysis.

Results: Eight studies with a total of 170 patients were included in the analysis. One hundred and thirty-five patients had a pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and 35 had a total pancreatectomy (TP) with arterial resection. Perioperative morbidity was 43.5% and mortality was 4.5%. Median overall survival (OS) was 12.7 months (range, 10.5-22.2 months). Overall 3- and 5-year survival for this cohort was reported at 6.6% (range, 0-42.4%) and 3.3% (range, 0-6.6%) respectively. Resection margins were clear (R0) in a median of 75% of patients. Only a median of 45% of patients received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

Conclusions: Arterial resection can be performed with an acceptable peri-operative morbidity and mortality. However, survival outcomes are still not convincing and future efforts should concentrate on patient and disease biology selection.