Laparoscopic versus open pancreatic resection for ductal adenocarcinoma: separate propensity score matching analyses of distal pancreatectomy and pancreaticoduodenectomy

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p><jats:bold>Background: </jats:bold>Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. Laparoscopic pancreatic resection (LPR) has been widely used in the treatment of benign and low-grade pancreatic diseases. It is necessary to expand the current knowledge on the feasibility and safety of LPR for PDAC. Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP) and pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD) are two main surgical approaches for PDAC. We performed separate propensity score matching (PSM) analyses, aiming to assess the surgical and oncological outcomes of LPR for PDAC by comparing LDP with open distal pancreatectomy (ODP) as well as LPD with open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD).<jats:bold>Methods: </jats:bold>Data of patients who underwent DP and PD for PDAC from January 2004 to February 2020 in our hospital were obtained. Baseline characteristics, intraoperative effect, postoperative recovery, and survival outcomes were compared. One-to-one PSM was used to minimize selection biases by balancing factors including age, sex, BMI, and tumor size.<jats:bold>Results:</jats:bold> Patient demographics were well matched after PSM. The DP subgroup included 86 LDP patients and 86 ODP patients, whereas the PD subgroup included 101 LPD patients and 101 OPD patients. Compared to ODP, LDP was associated with shorter operative time, less blood loss, and comparable overall morbidity. Of the 101 patients who underwent LPD, 10 patients (9.9%) required conversion to laparotomy. LPD was associated with longer operative time, less blood loss, and comparable overall morbidity. For oncological and survival outcomes, there were no significant differences in tumor sizes, R0 resection rate and tumor stage in both DP and PD subgroup. However, laparoscopic procedures seems to have an advantage over open surgery in terms of retrieved lymph node (DP subgroup: 14.4 ± 5.2 vs. 11.7 ± 5.1, <jats:italic>p </jats:italic>= 0.03; PD subgroup 21.9 ± 6.6 vs. 18.9 ± 5.4, <jats:italic>p </jats:italic>= 0.07). There was no statistical significance between both groups in recurrence pattern, and 3-year recurrence-free and overall survival were comparable between groups.<jats:bold>Conclusions:</jats:bold> Both LDP and LPD are feasible and oncologically safe procedures for PDAC. Postoperative outcomes and long-term survival of LDP and LPD are not inferior or superior to open surgery. However, the short-term surgical advantage of LPD is not as obvious as LDP mainly due to the conversions. Our findings should be further evaluated by multicenter or randomized controlled trials.</jats:p>