Incidence of postoperative pancreatic fistula after using a defined pancreaticojejunostomy technique for laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy: A prospective multicenter study on 1033 patients

Abstract

ObjectiveThis prospective multicenter study aimed to study the incidence of postoperative pancreatice fistula using a defined technique of pancreaticojejunostomy (PJ) in laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD). BackgroundPJ is a technically challenging and time-consuming procedure in LPD. Up to now, only a few small sample size studies have been reported on various PJ techniques in LPD, none of which has widely been accepted by surgeons. MethodsThis prospective study enrolled consecutive patients who underwent LPD using a defined technique of PJ at four institutions in China between January 2017 and December 2020. ResultsOf 1045 patients, after excluding 12 patients (1.2%) due to conversion to open surgery, 1033 patients were analysed. The males comprised of 57.12% (590/1033), and females 42.88% (443/1033), with a mean age of 59.00 years. The mean ± s.d. operation time was (270.2 ± 101.8) min. The median time for PJ was 24min (IQR = 20.0–30.0). The overall incidence of postoperative pancreatic fistula was 12.6%, including 67 patients (6.5%) with Grade A biochemical leak, 50 patients (4.8%) with Grade B, and 13 patients (1.3%) with Grade C pancreatic fistulas. The overall incidence of major complications (Clavien-Dindo score ≥3) was 6.3% and the 30-day mortality was 2.8%. ConclusionThe pancreaticojejunostomy technique for LPD was safe, simple and reproduceable with favorable clinical outcomes. However, further validations using high-quality RCTs are still required to confirm the findings of this study.