Application value of TRIANGLE operation in radical resection of pancreatic cancer / 中华消化外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the application value of TRIANGLE operation in radical resection of pancreatic cancer.Methods:The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 30 patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent TRIANGLE operation in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from March 2020 to July 2020 were collected. There were 18 females and 12 males, aged from 41 to 79 years, with a median age of 65 years. After assessment of the resectability and dissection of the hepatoduodenal ligament, the superior mesenteric artery, celiac axis, common hepatic artery, portal vein and superior mesenteric vein of patients were exposed. According to the location of tumor, patients were performed pancreaticoduodenectomy, distal pancreatectomy or total pancreatectomy combined with dissection of putatively tumor-infiltrated lymphatic and neural tissue from the triangular space. During the TRIANGLE operation, it required to at least finish the skeletonization of right semi-circumference of the superior mesenteric artery and celiac axis in cases of pancreatico-duodenectomy, whereas the left semi-circumference in cases of distal pancreatectomy. In principle, both of the superior mesenteric artery and celiac axis were circumferentially skeletonized for cases of total pancreatectomy. Lymphatic, neural and fibrous tissues between the superior mesenteric artery and the celiac artery were completely dissected in all patients. Observation indicators: (1) surgical conditions and postoperative histopathological examination; (2) postoperative recovery situations; (3) follow-up. Regular follow-up was conducted by telephone interview or outpatient examinations to understand tumor recurrence and metastasis of patients up to January 2021. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M (range). Count data were described as absolute numbers or percentages, Fisher exact probability method was used for comparison between groups. Results:(1) Surgical conditions and postoperative histopathological examination: all patients underwent open operation, including 21 cases of pancreaticoduodenec-tomy, 6 cases of distal pancreatectomy, 2 cases of total pancreatectomy, 1 case of mid-segment preserving pancreatectomy. There were 16 cases combined with portal vein-superior mesenteric vein resection and 3 cases combined with left adrenal resection. For the dissection area of superior mesenteric artery-celiac axis, one cycle was conducted in 5 of 30 patients, one and a quarter cycle in 8 patients, one and a half cycle in 8 patients, one and three quarters?two cycles in 9 patients. There were 16 cases with left gastric vein dissection and 14 cases with left gastric vein preservation. The operative time of 30 patients was 287 minutes (range, 165?495 minutes) and the volume of intraoperative blood loss was 275 mL(range, 50?800 mL). Nine patients received intraoperative transfusion of red blood cells or frozen plasma. Postoperative histopathological examination showed that the tumor diameter was 3.4 cm (range, 1.2?7.3 cm), the number of harvested lymph nodes was 20 (range, 9?35), the number of positive lymph nodes was 2 (0?19). Of the 30 patients,20 cases had moderately differentiated tumor and 10 cases had poorly differentiated tumor. R 0 resection was achieved in 9 patients, 1 mm R 1 resection in 17 patients, and R 1 resection in 4 patients. Postoperative pathological T stages: 3 of 30 patents were in stage T1, 18 cases were in stage T2, 5 cases were in stage T3, and 4 cases were in stage T4. Postoperative pathological N stages: 9 of 30 patents were in stage N0, 13 cases were in stage N1, and 8 cases were in stage N2. Postoperative pathological TNM stages: 2 of 30 patents were in stage Ⅰa, 2 cases were in stage Ⅰb, 3 case were in stage Ⅱa, 11 cases were in stage Ⅱb, 12 cases were in stage Ⅲ. (2) Postoperative recovery situations: 20 of 30 patients had postoperative complications, including 6 cases of Clavien-Dindo grade I complications, 9 cases of grade Ⅱ complications, 3 cases of grade Ⅲa complications, 2 cases of grade V complications. The incidence of postoperative diarrhea was 0 in cases with one cycle dissection of tissues around superior mesenteric artery-celiac axis, 1/8 in cases with one and a quarter cycle dissection, 4/8 in cases with one and a half cycle dissection, 9/9 in cases in with one and three quarters-two cycles dissection, showing a significant difference between the four groups ( P<0.05). The incidence of delayed gastric emptying was 5/16 in patients with left gastric vein dissection, versus 1/14 in patients with left gastric vein preservation, showing no significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). Nineteen of 30 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy.Twenty-eight of 30 patients were successfully discharged from hospital, with the duration of postoperative hospital stay of 15 days(range, 8?68 days) and the rest of 2 patients died. Three patients had unplanned readmission within postoperative 90 days. (3) Follow-up: all the 28 patients discharged from hospital were followed up for 1.0?9.0 months, with the median follow-up time of 6.5 months. During the follow-up, one patient with locally advanced pancreatic cancer had local recurrence, 9 patients had liver metastasis (including 4 cases with resectable pancreatic cancer, 4 cases with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, 1 case with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer), and 1 patient with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer had peritoneal metastasis. The rest of 17 patients survived without tumor recurrence. Conclusions:TRIANGLE operation in the radical resection of pancreatic cancer has high radicality and low postoperative local recurrence, but a slightly high morbidity and mortality rate. Its long-term efficacy needs to be further evaluated. It is recommend that this procedure should be performed for selected patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in high-volume pancreatic surgery centers.