Recent changes in surgical outcomes and preoperative biliary drainage with the increased use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy: a single-center retrospective study.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has been increasingly used in recent years in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). This has forced a change in the practice of preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) is performed in PDAC patients scheduled for pancreatoduodenectomy (PD). What has changed in the NAC era and what is the appropriate method of PBD? To address this question, this study retrospectively reviewed the surgical outcomes and details of PBD in NAC and upfront surgery (US) patients.

Methods: The study included consecutive PDAC patients who underwent PD from 2013 to 2021 during the transition from US to NAC, when outcomes were comparable. Clinical factors such as patient background, preoperative examination, surgical procedure, and postoperative complications were compared between the NAC group (40 patients) and the US group (59 patients), and details of PBD such as PBD procedure and adverse events were compared between the NAC and US groups who received PBD (27 NAC patients, 33 US patients). In the comparison test between groups, Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney U test were mainly used. In addition, the outcomes and patency periods of each of the 128 PBD procedures were examined for the 60 patients who underwent PBD. The log-rank test was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method to compare patency period by PBD procedure.

Results: There were no differences in patient background between the NAC and US groups. Compared with the US group, the NAC group had higher preoperative albumin (ALB) levels and less blood loss, but there was no difference of postoperative complications (NAC vs. US, 35% vs. 46%, respectively, P=0.29). With respect to PBD, the NAC group had more initial metallic stent (MS) placement (NAC vs. US, 52% vs. 15%, respectively, P=0.009), and fewer PBD-related adverse events (NAC vs. US, 33% vs. 61%, respectively, P=0.04). In a comparison of outcomes by drainage method, the duration of patency was significantly longer with MS placement than plastic stent (PS) placement (median days of patency, MS vs. PS, 68 vs. 15 days, respectively, P<0.001). However, MS placement and PS placement were equally likely to require a delay in the surgical schedule due to PBD-related adverse events (MS vs. PS, 6% vs. 6%, respectively, P>0.99).

Conclusions: Prolonged PBD with NAC did not adversely affect surgical outcomes. MS placement provides a long patency period and is currently useful in PBD for PDAC patients undergoing PD after NAC, which requires a prolonged preoperative period. However, MS placement also has adverse events, and further studies are needed.