PURPOSE: Despite recent advances in laparoscopic pancreatic surgery, few studies have compared laparoscopic central pancreatectomy (LCP) with open central pancreatectomy (OCP). The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes between LCP and OCP as a single institutional study. METHODS: During the study period (From January, 1998 to December, 2010), we performed central pancreatectomy in 95 cases. Among them, 26 cases of totally LCP and 55 cases of OCP were compared retrospectively. RESULTS: Benign pancreatic neoplasm was the main indication. The mean operation time for the LCP group (350.2 min) was longer than that for the OCP group (283.4 min). And there was no significant difference in mean actual blood loss (477 ml versus 714 ml, p=0.083) between the LCP and OCP groups. Return to a normal bowel movement and resumption of a liquid diet were achieved 5.5+/-2.6 days after the operation in the LCP group and 6.6+/-2.0 days after the operation in the OCP group (p=0.039). The mean duration of postoperative hospital stay was 13.8 days for the LCP group, which was significantly shorter than the 22.5 days for the OCP group (p=0.015). The overall complication rate was 42.3% (11 cases) in the LCP group and 45.5% (25 cases) in the OCP group (p=0.790). CONCLUSION: Use of LCP for benign or low grade malignant lesions of the pancreatic neck portion is feasible and safe. Compared to the open method, the laparoscopic approach to central pancreatectomy appears to provide advantages of early resumption of a normal diet and reduction of postoperative hospital stay without further complications.
Diet ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Neck ; Pancreatectomy ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreatic Neoplasms

Pancreatic fistulae follows pancreatic duct disruption and may develop as a complication of pancreatic disease or injury. The escaping fluid may be walled off by the surrounding viscera to form a pseudocyst or an abscess. Fistulae may drain spontaneously into adjacent hollow viscera or communicate with the body surface externally. Although internal pancreatic fistulas that communicate with adjacent internal organs are much less common, vascular communication with the pancreatic ductal system is especially unusual and generally represents a serious clinical situation. We experienced one case of pancreatic duct-portal vein fistula in a patient with pancreatic cancer. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography revealed a large vascular structure representing the portal vein filled at the time of the contrast injection, indicating the presence of a pancreatic duct-portal vein fistulae.
Abscess ; Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde ; Fistula* ; Humans ; Pancreatic Diseases ; Pancreatic Ducts ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Portal Vein ; United Nations ; Veins* ; Viscera

A pancreatic fistula (PF) is an abnormal connection between the pancreas and adjacent or distant organs, structures, or spaces resulting from leakage of pancreatic secretions from disrupted pancreatic ducts. A PF is a rare complication that occurs during a acute and chronic pancreatitis or after traumatic or surgical disruption of the pancreatic duct. PFs are frequently classified as internal or external depending upon whether they communicate with an internal organ or the skin. Pancreatico- colonic fistulas are the most common, whereas pancreatico-gastric fistulas are the rarest. We report a rare case of a pancreatico-gastric fistula complicated by acute pancreatitis.
Colon ; Fistula ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Ducts ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreatitis ; Pancreatitis, Chronic ; Skin

PURPOSE: With the advancement of laparoscopic techniques and instruments, laparoscopic approach for pancreatic lesions has become an increasingly used procedure. But, there are few and limited studies about laparoscopic enuleation (LE) for pancreatic lesions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to present our experience and to evaluate the clinical outcome of LE for pancreatic benign or borderline malignant tumors. METHODS: Between May 2005 and December 2011, 11 patients who underwent LE were analyzed. Candidates for LE met the following criteria: benign or borderline malignant pancreatic tumor, no involvement of main pancreatic duct, and outwardly growing tumor with small tumor bed. RESULTS: All 11 patients (10 women and 1 man with a mean age of 43.1 +/- 11.9 years) who underwent LE were completed laparoscopically without conversion. The mean diameter of tumor was 4.0 +/- 3.3 cm and all cases had benign tumors at the final pathologic diagnosis. One patient (9%) developed pancreatic fistula and mean postoperative hospital stay was 5.5 +/- 1.7 days. During follow-up period (mean, 44.3 +/- 23.9 months), all patients were alive with no recurrence or new onset of diabetes. CONCLUSION: LE is a safe and effective procedure, and should be considered as a treatment option for pancreatic lesions that do not involve the main pancratic duct and have an outgrowing aspect with small tumor bed.
Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Pancreatic Ducts ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Recurrence

Chronic pancreatitis is a debilitating disease with complications such as pancreatic duct stricture, duct stones, duct leak or fistulae, pseudocyst contributing to significant morbidity and mortality. Endoscopic intervention in patients with chronic pancreatitis compared to surgery has been known relatively safe and effective. Although there are several limitations, endoscopic intervention plays a specific role in carefully selected patients as primary interventional therapy when medical treatment was failed or patients are not suitable for surgery. In this review, we address the role of endoscopic intervention for chronic pancreatitis.
Constriction, Pathologic ; Endoscopy ; Fistula ; Humans ; Pancreatic Ducts ; Pancreatitis, Chronic

BACKGROUNDS/AIMS: The post-operative complications and clinical course of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) largely depend on the pancreaticojejunostomy (PJ). Several methods of PJ are in clinical use. We analyzed the early results of binding pancreaticojejunostomy (BPJ), a technique reported by SY Peng. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical results of patients who received BPJ in Inha University Hospital from 2006 to 2011. 21 BPJs were performed with Peng's method. The definition of postoperative pancreatic fistula (PF) was a high amylase content (>3 times the upper normal serum value) of the drain fluid (of any measurable volume), at any time on or after the 3rd post-operative day. The pancreatic fistula was graded according to the International Study Group for Pancreatic Fistula (ISGPF) guidelines. RESULTS: Of the 21 patients who received BPJ, 11 were male. The median age was 61.2 years. PD surgery included 4 cases of Whipple's procedures and 17 cases of pylorus-preserving PD. According to the post-operative course, 16 patients recovered well with no evidence of PF. A total of 5 patients (23.8%), including 3 grade A PFs and 2 grade C PFs, suffered from a pancreatic fistula. 3 patients with grade A PF recovered with conservative management. CONCLUSIONS: The BPJ appears to be a relatively safe procedure based on this preliminary study, but further study is needed to validate its safety.
Amylases ; Humans ; Male ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Pancreaticojejunostomy* ; Retrospective Studies

Endoscopic management of symptomatic pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs) is now considered to be first line therapy. Expanded use of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) techniques has resulted in increased applicability, safety, and efficacy of endoscopic transluminal PFC drainage. Steps include EUS-guided trangastric or transduodenal fistula creation into the PFC followed by stent placement or nasocystic drain deployment in order to decompress the collection. With the remarkable improvement in the available accessories and stents and development of exchange free access device; EUS drainage techniques have become simpler and less time consuming. The use of self-expandable metal stents with modifications to drain PFC has helped in overcoming some previously encountered challenges. PFCs considered suitable for endoscopic drainage include collection present for greater than 4 weeks, possessing a well-formed wall, position accessible endoscopically and located within 1 cm of the duodenal or gastric walls. Indications for EUS-guided drainage have been increasing which include unusual location of the collection, small window of entry, nonbulging collections, coagulopathy, intervening varices, failed conventional transmural drainage, indeterminate adherence of PFC to the luminal wall or suspicion of malignancy. In this article, we present a review of literature to date and discuss the recent developments in EUS-guided PFC drainage.
Drainage ; Endosonography ; Fistula ; Pancreatic Pseudocyst ; Phenobarbital ; Stents ; Varicose Veins

PURPOSE: In this study, we introduced a novel technique, the pancreaticojejunostomy (PJ), which uses only two transpancreatic sutures with buttresses (PJt), and compared the surgical outcomes with previously used methods, especially for hard pancreases. METHODS: A total of 101 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy with hard pancreases were enrolled and divided into 3 groups according to the method of pancreaticoenteric anastomosis: 30 patients (29.7%) underwent the conventional dunking method (Du), 31 patients (30.7%) underwent pancreaticogastrostomy using transpancreatic sutures (PGt) and 40 patients (39.6%) underwent PJ using transpancreatic sutures (PJt). The surgical outcomes were compared according to the type of anastomosis to analyze the feasibility and ease of each technique. RESULTS: The overall operative time was shorter in the PJt group (325.1 +/- 63.8 minutes) than in the PGt group (367.3 +/- 70.5 minutes) or the Du group (412.0 +/- 38.2 minutes, P < 0.001). In terms of pancreaticoenteric anastomosis time, it was also shorter in the PJt group (10.3 +/- 3.5 minutes) than in the Du group (20.7 +/- 0.7 minutes) or the PGt group (16.8 +/- 5.4 minutes, P = 0.005). Significant postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) developed in 2 cases (6.7%) in the Du group, whereas there were no POPF cases in the PGt or PJt groups (P = 0.086). Overall postoperative morbidities occurred in 31 cases (30.7%), and there were no significant differences among the 3 groups (P = 0.692). CONCLUSION: The novel PJ technique, which uses only two transpancreatic sutures with buttresses, is a very simple, easy and secure method for hard pancreases and can be performed in a shorter amount of time compared with conventional methods.
Humans ; Methods* ; Operative Time ; Pancreas* ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Pancreaticojejunostomy* ; Sutures*

Pancreatic enteric anastomosis is an important step during pancreaticoduodenectomy. Based on the anastomosis site, pancreatic enteric anastomosis is classified as pancreaticojejunostomy anastomosis and pancreaticogastrostomy. Depending on the jejunum site, reconstruction can be perform as end-to-end or end-to-side anastomosis. Previous randomized clinical trials, showed no significant differences between pancreaticojejunostomy and pancreaticogastrostomy. Binding pancreaticojejunostomy and binding pancreaticogastrostomy are easy to perform. The rate of pancreatic leakage is related to the texture of the pancreas and the size of the pancreatic duct. It is helpful to reduce pancreatic leakage by placing a pancreatic duct stent. The simple and effective pancreatic enteric reconstruction is the future direction for minimizing leakage.
Humans ; Pancreatic Fistula ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Pancreaticojejunostomy ; methods

PURPOSE: Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) or distal pancreatectomy (DP) are treatments used for pancreatic benign neoplasms even though both of these treatments result in significant loss of normal pancreatic parenchyma; this leads to subsequent impairment of exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function. The purpose of this study is to provide short-and long-term result of limited resection (LR) in a single center. METHODS: Two-hundred thirty patients who had undergone pancreatic resection between April 1998 and September 2008 for benign neoplasms were reviewed retrospectively. DP was performed in 102 patients, LR in 77, PD in 51 patients. The definitions of the International Study Group of Pancreatic Fistula (ISGPF) were applied to postoperative pancreatic fistulas (POPF), perioperative endocrine function was evaluated through oral glucose tolerance test. RESULTS: LR includes 42 enucleation, 24 central pancreatectomy, and 11 uncinate process resection. No deaths occurred to patients during the study review period; POPF was detected in 50 patients (65%), 37 patients with grade A and 13 patients with grade B or C. POPF occurred 65% of the time after LR, more frequently compared to the occurrance after PD or DP (58%), but this was not statistically significant (P =.322). After LR, there were 2 patients with new onset diabetes (3%), while 26 (17%) patients developed diabetes after DP or PD (P = .002). CONCLUSION: LR may preserve endocrine and exocrine function. While mortality is low with the use of LR, it is associated with a higher pancreatic-leakage rate. The precise management of benign pancreatic lesions remains in evolution.
Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Pancreatectomy ; Pancreatic Fistula ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Retrospective Studies