Kantor O, et al. – Researchers aimed at effectively defining oncologic outcomes and long–term survival profiles following laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP) for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). They identified LDP as an effective modality for managing resectable cancer in the pancreatic body and tail. LDP seemed to provide short–term oncologic outcomes and long–term OS rates identical to those for ODP while affording an accelerated recovery.

Methods

• The National Cancer Database was searched to identify patients with pathologic stage I–III PDAC who underwent distal pancreatectomy between 2010 and 2013.
• They performed logistic regression to determine predictors of oncologic outcomes.
• They used Cox modeling for survival analysis and to estimate median overall survival (OS).

Results

• This analysis included 1554 patients.
• Patients undergoing LDP and ODP were identical in terms of probabilities of an adequate lymph node sampling and 90-day mortality.
• Patients who underwent LDP indicated an increased probability of margin-negative resection (OR 1.78, CI 1.25–2.52) and a decreased probability of a prolonged hospital stay (OR 0.55, CI 0.32–0.95) or readmission (OR 0.56, CI 0.33–0.95) relative to those undergoing ODP.
• The groups were similar regarding OS (29.6 vs. 23.8 months, p = 0.10).