Distal pancreatectomy and celiac axis resection for pancreatic body carcinoma involving celiac artery

Abstract

Pancreatic body or tail cancer with invasion to major vessels, including the common hepatic artery and the celiac artery, was previously considered to be unresectable. However, an increasing number of surgeons have aggressively adopted distal pancreatectomy, splenectomy, and celiac axis resection (DP-CAR) in this scenario to attempt curative resection, thus improving long-term survival. In this paper, we present the case of a 45-year-old man with pancreatic body cancer invading the celiac axis who underwent DP-CAR with negative margins (R0) and subsequently exhibited an uneventful postoperative course. We also reviewed literature, which unequivocally demonstrates a comparable oncological outcome between pancreatic body or tail cancer with and without celiac artery resection. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first documented case in which DP-CAR was successfully performed in Taiwan.