Stratified survival of resected and overall pancreatic cancer patients in Europe and the USA in the early twenty-first century: a large, international population-based study.

BACKGROUND: The prognosis of pancreatic cancer (PaC) strongly varies across different stages and age groups, which has unfortunately not been well recorded in the literature. This international population-based study aimed to provide tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage- and age-specific survival estimates and trends in resected and overall (resected and unresected) PaC in the early twenty-first century. METHODS: Using data from the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-18 Program and the national cancer registries of the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and Slovenia, short-term and long-term overall survival results stratified by TNM stage and age in resected and overall primary PaC, irrespective of being microscopically confirmed or not, in 2003-2014 were computed using the Kaplan-Meier method. The temporal survival trends over three predefined periods (2003-2005, 2006-2008, and 2009-2011) were further examined using the log-rank test. RESULTS: In total, data for 125,183 patients were analyzed. Overall, age-stratified 3-year survival was 20-34% (< 60 years), 14-25% (60-69 years), and 9-13% (≥ 70 years) in stages I-II PaC; and 2-5% (< 60 years), 1-2% (60-69 years), and < 1-1% (≥ 70 years) in stages III-IV cancer. Patients who underwent operation had higher 3-year survival in each stage and age group (stages I-II: 23-39% (< 60 years), 16-31% (60-69 years), and 17-30% (≥ 70 years); stages III-IV: 5-19% (< 70 years) and 2-14% (≥ 70 years)). Perioperative survival also decreased with advancing stage and older age (stages I-II: 98-100% (< 60 years), 97-99% (60-69 years), and 94-99% (≥ 70 years); stages III-IV: 94-99% (< 70 years) and 81-96% (≥ 70 years)). Between 2003 and 2005 and 2009-2011, for overall PaC, both short-term and long-term survival improvements were observed in all countries except Belgium; for resected disease, short-term improvements were present only in the USA and Slovenia, but long-term improvements were observed in all countries except Slovenia, with stage-specific variations. CONCLUSIONS: Our large international study provides TNM stage- and age-specific population-based survival in overall and resected PaC that will facilitate clinical counseling. While the survival expectations for patients with resected PaC are substantially higher than the widely available and known dismal survival predictions for overall patients, conclusions on the benefits of resection cannot be made from this observational study. Patients with advanced-stage disease and/or older age should undergo careful risk assessment before treatment. Limited but inspiring improvement in survival is observed.

John L. Cameron, MD: Overview of His Career.

: Introduction to the John Cameron Festschrift.

[Total pancreatectomy for pancreatic malignancy - from history to the present day]. / Totální pankreatektomie u maligního onemocnení slinivky brisní od historie k dnesku.

Currently, total pancreatectomy (TP) is indicated in approximately one in ten surgical patients with pancreatic cancer. Key role in the decision falls in the competence of the multidisciplinary team, alternatively of the surgeon in the intraoperative period in some cases. Exceptionally, TP is approached in the so-called salvage surgery. Perioperative mortality of TP as an elective procedure does not exceed that of partial resections; however, mortality of up to 50% is associated with salvage surgery in acute postoperative pancreatitis. Postoperatively, patients are afflicted with the so-called brittle diabetes comparable with type 1 diabetes. The aim of our overview is to inform about the current position of TP in the treatment of malignant pancreatic diseases.Key words: pancreatic cancer - total pancreatectomy - multidisciplinary team.

[History of surgical intervention in severe acute pancreatitis treatment].

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is hard to treat for the abrupt onset, critical condition and complicated pathophysiology. Historically, the treatment strategy of SAP hovered between surgical intervention and conservative treatment. At the turn of the 20(th) century, SAP was reported to be cured by surgical intervention in a series cases, which lead to the dominance of surgical intervention in SAP treatment. Subsequently, SAP was documented to respond to nonoperative therapy. A wave of conservatism emerged, and surgical intervention for SAP was rarely practiced for the next 3 decades. However, surgeons refined the indications and considered new approaches for surgical treatment in 1960s because of the poor outcomes of conservation, and surgical interventions was mainly performed at early stage of SAP. However, a series of prospective studies showed that conservative treatment of patients with sterile pancreatic necrosis is superior to surgical intervention, and that delayed intervention provide improved outcomes in 1990s, which changed the treatment concept of SAP again. The modern treatment concept formed during the progression: organ supportive care dominates in the early stage of the disease, and surgical intervention should be performed at late stage with proper indications. Despite the advances in treatment, the morbidity of SAP is still 5%-20%, which suggests the pancreatic surgeons' exploration in the future.

Central pancreatectomy: the Dagradi Serio Iacono operation. Evolution of a surgical technique from the pioneers to the robotic approach.

Central pancreatectomy (CP) is a parenchyma-sparing surgical procedure. The aims are to clarify the history and the development of CP and to give credits to those from whom it came. Ehrhardt, in 1908, described segmental neck resection (SNR) followed, in 1910, by Finney without reconstructive part. In 1950 Honjyo described two cases of SNR combined with gastrectomy for gastric cancer infiltrating the neck of the pancreas. Guillemin and Bessot (1957) and Letton and Wilson (1959) dealt only with the reconstructive aspect of CP. Dagradi and Serio, in 1982, performed the first CP including the resective and reconstructive aspects. Subsequently Iacono has validated it with functional endocrine and exocrine tests and popularized it worldwide. In 2003, Baca and Bokan performed laparoscopic CP and, In 2004, Giulianotti et al performed a robotic assisted CP. CP is performed worldwide either by open surgery or by using minimally-invasive or robotic approaches. This confirms that the operation does not belong to whom introduced it but to everyone who carries out it; however credit must be given to those from whom it came.

[Surgery of the pancreas]. / La chirurgie du pancréas.

Historically, pancreatic surgery has been considered a "major" procedure, usually consisting of pancreatectomy in old or other high-risk patients. Pancreatic surgery carries a risk of fatal complications, major morbidity, and long-term adverse effects. Recently, both the indications and techniques of pancreatic surgery have diversified, notably with the emergence of parenchyma-preserving resection for benign lesions at high risk of malignant transformation, which are often discovered incidentally. A multidisciplinary approach is needed for accurate decision-making, based on the presumed diagnosis, tumor location, surgical risk, and medical history.

Brunner's missing 'Aha experience' delayed progress in diabetes research by 200 years.

In 1889, the pancreatectomy performed on a dog by Joseph von Mehring and Oskar Minkowski led to the discovery of the pancreatic origin of diabetes disease. Already 200 years before, Johann Conrad Brunner had successfully performed eight pancreatectomies on dogs and had precisely described the symptoms of polyphagia, polyuria, and polydipsia. He did not, however, recognize the association with the diabetes disease and thus missed an opportunity to accelerate the course of diabetes research by 200 years.

[One name, two physicians. About Whipple's procedure and Whipple's disease]. / Jedno nazwisko, dwóch lekarzy, czyli o operacji i chorobie Whipple'a.

The biographical silhouettes of two contemporary, but unrelated American physicians using the same name: Allen Oldfather Whipple and Gorge Hoyt Whipple are presented. Both significantly influenced their medical specialties. A.O. Whipple was a pioneer in modern surgery of the pancreas. His name is used as an eponym for resection of the pancreas head (Whipple's procedure). G.H. Whipple, the pathologist and physiologists received the Nobel Prize for his input into scientific evidence for the treatment of anemia. His name serves as an eponym for extremely rare disease of the bowel (Whipple's disease).

[Evolution of the treatment of pancreatic cancer]. / Wandel in der Therapie des Pankreaskarzinoms.

Cancer of the pancreas was not diagnosed until the nineteenth century, and the first surgical attempts were not carried out until the end of that century, and then only within the framework of local tumour removal. Already in 1898, however, Codivilla described the operative method that is today considered the standard operation and which, in the form of partial duodenopancreatectomy, is the most commonly performed procedure on the pancreas. Evolutionary change in this area represents nothing more than the gradual introduction of minor modifications which, however, had no impact on the " heart" of the surgical approach. The particular feature of surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer--since 1935 known as Whipple's procedure--is the considerable length of time of 80 years that it took before it finally found widespread acceptance. Further several decades passed until, by the end of the 20th century, recognizable successes were reported, for example, a resection rate of 30%, a hospital mortality rate of less than 5% in specialized centers, and a reported 5-year survival rate varying from 1% to 20%. Even after the last 100 years of slow evolution, surgeons have by no means conquered cancer of the pancreas, and the low 5-year survival rates, together with the recurrences and late metastases prompted Trede in the year 2002 to remark: "we have to conclude that surgery alone cannot cure pancreatic carcinoma".