Anticoagulation Practice and Risk of Portal Vein Thrombosis Following Pancreaticoduodenectomy or Total Pancreatectomy with Venous Resection: An International Multicentre Cohort Study.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Assess anticoagulation practice and portal vein thrombosis (PVT) risk following pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) or total pancreatectomy (TP) with venous resection (VR). BACKGROUND Retrospective studies suggest an increased risk of PVT following PD/TP with VR. However, anticoagulation practice is variable and its efficacy at preventing PVT is unknown. METHODS This multicentre cohort study (Europe, USA, Mexico, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand) included consecutive patients undergoing PD/TP with VR between 2018-2022. A 1:1 age and sex matched cohort undergoing PD/TP without VR was also collected to assess PVT risk without VR. RESULTS Among 972 patients who underwent PD/TP with VR, 259 (26.6%) received inpatient therapeutic anticoagulation and 242 (25.0%) were discharged on therapeutic anticoagulation. Thirty-day, 90-day and one-year PVT risk following VR was 5.1%, 7.3%, and 11.6%, versus 1.0%, 1.3% and 2.6% in patients without VR (P<0.001). Predictors of 90-day PVT included prior history of venous thromboembolism (odds ratio [OR] 2.67), VR type (OR 2.29, 6.28, 6.90 and 23.75 for type 1-4 VR, P<0.001) and graft material (OR 0.78, 0.94, 5.28, 4.90 and 5.99 for peritoneal, autologous vein, cadaveric vein, bovine and synthetic grafts, P<0.001). Postoperative therapeutic anticoagulation reduced 30-day PVT risk (OR 0.06, P<0.001), but not 90-day (OR 0.06, P=0.075) or >90-day PVT risk (OR 1.23, P=0.466). The strongest predictor of >90-day PVT was cancer recurrence (OR 3.96, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS VR increases PVT risk following PD/TP, with technical factors influencing <90-day PVT and cancer-related factors influencing >90-day PVT. The benefits of early postoperative anticoagulation in preventing PVT post-VR remain unclear.