THE MONUMENTAL work of Whipple in which he devised the surgical technique of the pancreatoduodenal resection for carcinoma of the pancreas has stimulated surgical interest in a heretofore ominous tumor site. Since the report of his work in 1935,1 a number of surgeons throughout the country have been carrying out this procedure. Very few surgeons, however, have had extensive experience in the radical resection of this carcinoma because, while the tumor is not uncommon, only rarely do we find a suitable candidate for radical surgery.
Analyses of our results obtained in the Swedish Hospital and of those reported in the literature * are difficult to evaluate accurately. In the first instance, we are dealing with an organ whose function is vital to a normal digestive physiology. In the second place, the anatomical location of the pancreas, with its duct system exhibiting a high incidence of developmental anomalies and with variations