Pancreatic atrophy after gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

Abstract

To investigate the phenomenon of pancreatic atrophy after gastrectomy for gastric cancer, using computed tomography (CT) volumetry. The subjects of this retrospective study were 77 patients who underwent distal gastrectomy (DG) or total gastrectomy (TG) for pStage I gastric cancer in 2014. The relative pancreatic volume ratio was assessed preoperatively, and then 1 and 5years postoperatively and the results were compared between surgical procedures RESULTS: A total of 14 patients underwent TG with Roux-en-Y (RY) reconstruction, 24 underwent DG with Billroth-I (BI) reconstruction, and 39 underwent DG with RY reconstruction. We observed that the pancreatic volume continued to decrease over the 5years after DG or TG. Furthermore, the incidence of pancreatic atrophy 5years postoperatively was significantly greater after TG than after DG. In patients who underwent DG, a greater incidence of pancreatic atrophy was observed after RY reconstruction than after BI reconstruction, 5years postoperatively. The pancreatic volume continued to decrease after DG and TG for gastric cancer 5years after treatment. TG was associated with a significantly greater incidence of pancreatic atrophy than DG 5years postoperatively, as was RY reconstruction vs. BI reconstruction after DG.