Few data exist on postoperative outcomes of patients with pancreatic body-tail malignancies and tumoral venous invasion (VI). This study aimed at comparing survival and recurrence rate (RR) after distal pancreatectomy for adenocarcinoma in patients with and without tumoral VI.
All consecutive distal pancreatectomies (2000-2015) were collected. Demographics and peri- and postoperative data were recorded. Survivals were calculated using Kaplan-Meier curves.
A total of 45 patients underwent distal pancreatectomies for malignancies, of which 33 patients had ductal adenocarcinomas and 2 had cystadenocarcinomas. Among these 35 adenocarcinomas, histological VI was found in 28 patients (80%). Characteristics and intraoperative data of patients with and without VI were similar. Complication rates were 15 of 28 (54%) in the VI group and 3 of 7 (43%) in the group without VI (p = 0.612). Five-year survival for the group with and without VI were 19 and 39% (p = 0.232), respectively. RR was 16 of 28 (57%) for the VI group and 1 of 7 (14%) for the group without VI (p = 0.042).
VI did not have an effect on postoperative -complications. Survivals were similar in case of VI or not. On the contrary, RR was higher in the VI group.