TY  - JOUR
T1  - CHanges in morbidity after pancreatic resection—invited critique
AU  - Fong Y
Y1  - 2003/12/01
N1  - 10.1001/archsurg.138.12.1315
JO  - Archives of Surgery
SP  - 1315
EP  - 1315
VL  - 138
IS  - 12
N2  - 
The past 2 decades have seen tremendous improvements and refinements in pancreatic resections. The article in this issue of the ARCHIVES by Büchler and colleagues is a remarkable documentation of 617 pancreatectomies performed by a single group and echoes the results currently seen in many major centers. The pancreatoduodenectomy is now performed in a few hours at most major hospitals, with operative mortalities less than 4% and with most patients returning to normal function. Because pancreatectomy represents the only curative therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, improvement in perioperative outcome is a first step toward effective treatment of this disease. However, the long-term outcome for pancreatic adenocarcinoma is still extremely poor. The actuarial 5-year survival in most major series is less than 20%, and even at major centers, there are few actual 5-year, disease-free survivors.1- 3 Thus, the surgical procedure has prolonged survival but has had little effect on long-term outcome for most of the 30 000 patients each year treated for adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

SN  - 0004-0010
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archsurg.138.12.1315
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.138.12.1315
ER  -