Segmental pancreatectomy for the diagnosis and treatment of small lesions in the neck or body of the pancreas.
OBJECTIVE
To avoid any profound deficit in the pancreatic functions as well as to successfully make a histological diagnosis of such lesions, we performed resections of a small segment of the pancreatic neck or body. This article discusses the practicality of this procedure as well as the complications and evaluation of the pancreatic functions after surgery.


METHODS
A segmental pancreatectomy was performed in patients with small lesions of the pancreatic neck or body. There were a total of 24 patients including 11 with hyperplasia, 7 with chronic pancreatitis, 4 with mucinous or serous cystadenoma, and each one with islet cell carcinoma (low-grade malignancy) and carcinoma in situ.


RESULTS
No major complications occurred following surgery. The pancreatic endocrine and exocrine functions were well maintained in all patients except for two with chronic pancreatitis.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on our findings, a segmental pancreatectomy for small lesions in the pancreatic neck or body seems to be a safe and effective procedure for minimizing the postoperative deficit in the pancreatic functions, while it also allows for an accurate diagnosis of lesions that are often difficult to differentially diagnose for malignancy.
Ikeda
S
S
First Department of Surgery, Fukuoka University School of Medicine.
Matsumoto
S
S
Maeshiro
K
K
Miyazaki
R
R
Okamoto
K
K
Yasunami
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D010180:Pancreatectomy; D010182:Pancreatic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies