Short-term and long-term outcomes of pancreas preserving total duodenectomy: A case series from a single center with 13 years' experience and complimentary meta-analysis.

Backgrounds/aims: To determine short-term and long-term outcomes after pancreas preserving total duodenectomy (PPTD).

Methods: A case series and a complementary meta-analysis were conducted. All patients with (pre)neoplastic lesions of duodenum who underwent PPTD in a tertiary center for pancreatic surgery between May 2009 and October 2022 were included for the case series. All studies in the literature with a sample size of 10 or more patients reporting outcomes of PPTD were included for the meta-analysis.

Results: A total of 439 patients (18 from case series and 421 from literature) were analyzed. Clavien-Dindo (CD) I complications in 2.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.6%-5.2%), CD II complications in 21.1% (14.6%-27.6%), CD III complications in 18.1% (9.3%-26.9%), CD IV complications in 2.7% (0.5%-4.9%), and CD V complications in 2.2% (0.2%-4.2%) of patients were found. Probabilities of overall survival and recurrence-free survival at 15 years were 87% and 86%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the risk of mortality (odds ratio [OR]: 0.82, p = 0.830), total complications (OR: 0.77, p = 0.440), postoperative pancreatic fistula (OR: 0.43, p = 0.140), delayed gastric emptying (OR: 0.70, p = 0.450), or postoperative bleeding (OR: 0.97, p = 0.960) between PPTD and pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Conclusions: PPTD is safe and feasible for (pre)neoplastic lesions of duodenum not involving the pancreatic head. The risk of severe complications (CD > III) is low and long-term outcomes are favorable. Whether PPTD provides advantages over more radical techniques in terms of long-term outcomes remains controversial and requires further research.