Objective To investigate the significance of combined vascular resection and reconstruction in surgery for pancreatic cancer.Methods The clinical data of 231 patients with pancreatic canccr who received pancreaticoduodenectomy at the Southwest Hospital from January 2006 to December 2011 were retrospectively analyzed.All the patients were divided into the combined vascular resection and reconstruction group (97patients) and non-vascular resection and reconstruction group (134 patients).Effects of operation,results of pathological examination,prognosis and lymph node metastasis on the prognosis of the patients in the 2 groups were compared.Two independent samples t test was used to analyze the measurement data,and the count data were analyzed using the chi-square test.The survival curve was drawn by the Kaplan-Meier method,and the survival was analyzed using the Log-rank test.Results The operation time and intraoperative volume of blood loss were (554 ± 136)minutes and (1110 ± 939)rnl in the combined vascular resection and reconstruction group,and (445 ±106)minutes and (623 ±349)ml in the non-vascular resection and reconstruction group,with significant difference between the 2 groups (t =6.552,4.873,P < 0.05).The mortality,morbidity and positive rate of lymph node metastasis of were 8.2% (8/97),20.6% (20/97) and 32.0% (31/97) in the combined vascular resection and reconstruction group and 3.0% (4/134),8.2% (11 / 134) and 16.4% (22/134) in the non-vascular resection and reconstruction group.There was no significant difference in the mortality between the 2 groups (x2=3.164,P > 0.05),while significant differences in the morbidity and positive rate of lymph node metastasis were detected between the 2 groups (x2 =7.458,7.687,P < 0.05).A total of 223 patients were followed up till September 2012,53 patients were with lymph node metastasis,and their median survival time was 8.4 months (range,6.9-10.0 months) ; 170 patients were with negative lymph node metastasis,and their median survival time was 18.6 months (range,15.8-21.5 months),which was significantly longer than that of patients with positive lymph node metastasis (x2=17.045,P < 0.05).Of the 53 patients with lymph node metastasis,31 were in the combined vascular resection and reconstruction group,and their median survival time was 8.5 months (range,6.3-10.7 months) ; 22 were in the non-vascular resection and reconstruction group,and their median survival time was 8.3 months (range,6.1-10.5 months),with no significant difference between the 2 groups (x2 =0.022,P > 0.05).Of the 178 patients with negative lymph node metastasis,64 were in the combined vascular resection and reconstruction group,and their median survival time was 13.2 months (range,9.2-17.1 months) ; 106 were in the non-vascular resection and reconstruction group,and their median survival time was 21.7 months (range,18.1-25.3 months),with significant difference between the 2 groups (x2 =11.908,P < 0.05).Conclusions Although pancreaticoduodenectomy combined with vascular resection and reconstruction increases the incidence of postoperative complications,it could achieve the complete removal of tumors without significantly increasing the mortality rate.For patients with lymph node metastasis,pancreaticoduodenectomy combined with vascular resection and reconstruction has no influence on the postoperative survival time,while it might have influence on the patients without lymph node metastasis. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasms ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy; Vascular resection and reconstruction; Lymph node metastasis