Trends and outcomes of pancreaticoduodenectomy for periampullary tumors: A 25-year single-center study of 1000 consecutive cases.

AIM: To evaluate the evolution, trends in surgical approaches and reconstruction techniques, and important lessons learned from performing 1000 consecutive pancreaticoduodenectomies (PDs) for periampullary tumors. METHODS: This is a retrospective review of the data of all patients who underwent PD for periampullary tumor during the period from January 1993 to April 2017. The data were categorized into three periods, including early period (1993-2002), middle period (2003-2012), and late period (2013-2017). RESULTS: The frequency showed PD was increasingly performed after the year 2000. With time, elderly, cirrhotic and obese patients, as well as patients with uncinate process carcinoma and borderline tumor were increasingly selected for PD. The median operative time and postoperative hospital stay decreased significantly over the periods. Hospital mortality declined significantly, from 6.6% to 3.1%. Postoperative complications significantly decreased, from 40% to 27.9%. There was significant decrease in postoperative pancreatic fistula in the second 10 years, from 15% to 12.7%. There was a significant improvement in median survival and overall survival among the periods. CONCLUSION: Surgical results of PD significantly improved, with mortality rate nearly reaching 3%. Pancreatic reconstruction following PD is still debatable. The survival rate was also improved but the rate of recurrence is still high, at 36.9%.

Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Malignant and Benign Biliary Obstructions.

BACKGROUND: Despite the presence of various diagnostic tools, the differential diagnosis between malignant and benign biliary obstructions is so difficult. This study aimed to evaluate the role of serum and biliary insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in this differential diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients (n = 109, 61 men and 48 women) with diagnosis of benign (n = 62) or malignant (n = 47) biliary obstruction were included. Serum and biliary IGF-1 and VEGF markers were analyzed by the chemiluminescent immunometric method. RESULTS: Mean age was 62.7 ± 8.1 years for the malignant group and 58.5 ± 15.4 years for the benign group (P = 0.092). Choledocholithiasis (79%), cancer head of the pancreas (53.2%) and cholangiocarcinoma (38.3%) were the most common etiologies. No statistical difference was detected regarding serum IGF-1 and VEGF levels between 2 groups. At a cutoff value of 308.55 and 0.5ng/mL, biliary IGF-1 and VEGF had (91.4% and 90.3%) sensitivity and (89.5% and 84.9%) specificity differential diagnosis between malignant and benign biliary obstructions (area under the curve: 0.943, 0.915), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Biliary levels of IGF-1 and VEGF significantly increase in malignant than benign obstructive lesions. Measurement of these markers in the bile of these patients may aid in the detection of biliary tumors.