Duodenum-preserving head resection for chronic pancreatitis: an institutional experience and national survey of usage

Background Duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resections (DPPHRs) have been shown in European randomized clinical trials to be superior to pancreaticoduodenectomy for chronic pancreatitis, but DPPHR procedures have been slow to be adopted in the United States. Methods To assess national attitudes of surgeons toward DPPHR, a web-based survey was administered to the U.S. members of the Pancreas Club, which is a national organization of pancreatic surgeons. We also performed a retrospective review of 21 DPPHRs, performed by the senior author, for chronic pancreatitis between January 2000 and March 2005. Results The web-based national survey was completed by 64 of 118 members of the Pancreas Club (54.24%). Of the 59 surgeons who perform operations for chronic pancreatitis, 34 had performed a DPPHR at least once. Only 23 U.S. surgeons continue to perform these procedures. Most surgeons who are not performing DPPHRs responded that, despite the published literature, existing procedures such as the Whipple and Puestow were better procedures. In our clinical series, 12 men and 9 women with a mean age of 48.2 ± 9.6 years underwent DPPHR. The median length of stay was 9 days with 6 patients (28%) who had complications in the postoperative period. Ten of 20 potentially evaluable patients completed a visual analog pain scale and EORTC C-30 quality-of-life questionnaire. Pancreatic functioning approached the normal range in all domains. As compared with a general population of patients with chronic pancreatitis, significant improvement occurred in pancreatic-related pain and digestive function. Self-reported pain was significantly better after operation than before operation. Conclusions DPPHR provides excellent functional results with relatively low postoperative morbidity and duration of stay. These procedures are underused in the United States, with very few surgeons who use, teach them, or report their results.