[Prognostic factors in adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater]. / Factores pronósticos en el adenocarcinoma de ampolla duodenal.

INTRODUCTION: Ampullary adenocarcinoma seems less aggressive than other pancreato-biliary neoplasms. The aim of this study is to define determining prognostic factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective case series from a large tertiary Hospital including all patients diagnosed with ampullary adenocarcinoma who underwent cephalic pancreatoduodenectomy with curative intent. Outcome variables have been progression free survival and overall survival. RESULTS: 24 patients were included. 54.2% were females and the mean age was 72.5 (45-85). Most cases were of intestinal type (50%), followed by pancreatobiliary (37.5%) and mucinous. Only 8.3% were high histopathological grade. Vessel invasion was detected in 31.8% of the cases and perineural infiltration in 20.8%. A large percentage of cases showed no lymph node involvement at the time of diagnosis (54.1%). Most cases were stage T1 or T3 (39.1 y 43.5%, respectively). 34.8% of the patients recurred, mainly in regional lymph nodes (62.5% of the recurrences) and they all died of tumor, mainly during the first year after diagnosis. Multivariate analysis with Cox regression model revealed that only lymph node involvement was independently associated to a shorter disease free progression interval and overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: Lymph node involvement was the most important predictive factor for ampullary adenocarcinoma in this series.