End-to-end invaginated pancreaticojejunostomy during minimally invasive pancreatoduodenectomy: technical description and single center experience.

BACKGROUND: Remarkable progress has been made in pancreatic surgery over the last decades with the introduction of minimally invasive techniques. Minimally invasive pancreatoduodenectomy (MIPD) remains one of the most challenging operations in abdominal surgery and it is performed in a few centers worldwide. The treatment of the pancreatic stump is a crucial step of this operation; however, the best strategy to perform pancreatic anastomosis is still debated. In this article, we describe the technical details of our original technique of modified minimally invasive end-to-end invaginated pancreaticojejunostomy (EIPJ) using video footage. METHODS: In the current study, we retrospectively analyzed a pilot series of 67 consecutive cases of minimally invasive (7 robotic/60 fully laparoscopic) MIPD operated on at the General Surgery Department of the Panico Hospital, Tricase (Italy) between March 2017 and October 2022.The reconstruction phase involved an EIPJ, tailored using an intra-ductal anastomotic plastic stent. The aim of this study was to describe the technique and evaluate the short-term outcomes of patients undergoing MIPD with EIPJ. RESULTS: The mean operative time to perform the EIPJ was 21.57 ± 3.32 min. Seven patients (10.5%) developed biochemical leaks and 13 (19.4%) developed clinically relevant pancreatic fistulas (grade B or C according to the definition of the International Study Group on Pancreatic Surgery). CONCLUSION: The early results confirm that this anastomosis is safe, easy to perform, and effective in the hands of hepatobiliopancreatic (HBP) surgeons with experience in minimally invasive surgery.

Inframesocolic main pancreatic vessels-first approach for minimally invasive radical antegrade modular pancreaticosplenectomy (RAMPS): technical description and first experience.

Radical modular antegrade pancreaticosplenectomy (RAMPS) improves posterior tumor-free margins during resections of pancreatic neoplasia involving the body or tail. However, minimally invasive RAMPS is technically challenging and has been reported seldom. We present for the first time a minimally invasive RAMPS technique with an innovative approach providing early dissection and control of the main peripancreatic vessels from an inframesocolic embryonal window, suitable for laparoscopy and robotics. Minimally invasive RAMPS with inframesocolic main pancreatic vessels-first approach was performed at the Tricase Hospital (Italy) from May 2017 to April 2022 in 11 consecutive patients with neoplastic lesions of the pancreas (8 laparoscopic RAMPS and 3 robotic RAMPS). Among the laparoscopic cases, 1 included a portal vein tangential resection and 1 a celiac artery resection (modified Appleby procedure). There were no conversions, no Clavien-Dindo complications > 2, all resections' margins were tumor free, and no 90-day mortality.