title: Clinical outcome of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have compared laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (Lap-DP) and open distal pancreatectomy (open-DP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of Lap-DP and compare it to that of open-DP.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 37 patients who underwent distal pancreatectomy (Lap-DP, 21 patients; open-DP, 16 patients) between January 2000 and March 2007 were enrolled in this study. Prior to January 2004, open-DP was the standard procedure for patients with a lesion in the distal pancreas without invasive ductal cancer; thereafter, Lap-DP was also an approved procedure. All 16 open-DP procedures were performed prior to January 2004.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The operating times for the Lap-DP and open-DP patients were 308.4 +/- 124.6 and 281.5 +/- 83.3 min, respectively, and these were not significantly different (P = 0.4635). Blood loss for the Lap-DP group (249.0 +/- 239.8 ml) was significantly smaller than that for the open-DP group (714.1 +/- 650.4 ml) (P = 0.0055), and none of the patients in the Lap-DP group received transfusions. The frequency of complications for the Lap-DP and open-DP groups was 0 and 18.8%, respectively, which is not significantly different (P = 0.0784). The average hospital stay for the Lap-DP group was significantly shorter than that for the open-DP group (10.0 +/- 2.6 vs. 25.8 +/- 8.8 days; P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In pancreatic diseases, other than invasive ductal cancer, arising in the distal pancreas, Lap-DP might be a more feasible and safer than open-DP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. keishun@nms.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aimoto
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tajiri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010180:Pancreatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome