Long-Term Pancreatic Functional Impairment after Surgery for Neuroendocrine Neoplasms

Duodenum-Preserving Pancreatic Head Resection for Benign and Premalignant Tumors-a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Surgery-Associated Morbidity

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic benign, cystic, and neuroendocrine neoplasms are increasingly detected and recommended for surgical treatment. In multiorgan resection pancreatoduodenectomy or parenchyma-sparing, local extirpation is a challenge for decision-making regarding surgery-related early and late postoperative morbidity.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Libraries were searched for studies reporting early surgery-related complications following pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) and duodenum-preserving total (DPPHRt) or partial (DPPHRp) pancreatic head resection for benign tumors. Thirty-four cohort studies comprising data from 1099 patients were analyzed. In total, 654 patients underwent DPPHR and 445 patients PD for benign tumors. This review and meta-analysis does not need ethical approval.

RESULTS

Comparing DPPHRt and PD, the need for blood transfusion (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.10-0.41, p<0.01), re-intervention for serious surgery-related complications (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.31-0.73, p<0.001), and re-operation for severe complications (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.26-0.95, p=0.04) were significantly less frequent following DPPHRt. Pancreatic fistula B+C (19.0 to 15.3%, p=0.99) and biliary fistula (6.3 to 4.3%; p=0.33) were in the same range following PD and DPPHRt. In-hospital mortality after DPPHRt was one of 350 patients (0.28%) and after PD eight of 445 patients (1.79%) (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.10-1.09, p=0.07). Following DPPHRp, there was no mortality among the 192 patients.

CONCLUSION

DPPHR for benign pancreatic tumors is associated with significantly fewer surgery-related, serious, and severe postoperative complications and lower in-hospital mortality compared to PD. Tailored use of DPPHRt or DPPHRp contributes to a reduction of surgery-related complications. DPPHR has the potential to replace PD for benign tumors and premalignant cystic and neuroendocrine neoplasms of the pancreatic head.

Pancreatic resections for benign intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms: Collateral damages from friendly fire

BACKGROUND

Surgical resection of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms is based on preoperative high-risk stigmata/worrisome features, but the risk of overtreatment remains high. The aim of this study was to evaluate surgical indications and perioperative and long-term complications in patients with low-grade intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms.

METHODS

Patients who underwent surgical resection between 2009 and 2018 with a final histology of low-grade intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms were included. Surgical indications, type of surgery, and short- and long-term outcomes were evaluated.

RESULTS

A significant decrease in the rate of patients resected for low-grade intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms was observed (43.6% in 2009-2012 vs 27.8% in 2013-2018; P = .003), and 133 patients were finally included (62 women, median age: 68 years). Of these, 24.1% had 1 worrisome feature, 39.8% had ≥2 worrisome features, 18.8% had ≥1 high-risk stigmata, and 15.8% had ≥1 worrisome features + 1 high-risk stigmata. Overall surgical morbidity was 55.6%, 15.8% had Clavien-Dindo ≥3 complications, reoperation rate was 3.8%, and 90-day postoperative mortality was 1.5%. After a median follow-up of 60 months, 13 patients (11.5%) had a recurrence of benign intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm in the pancreatic remnant, and 2 patients (1.8%) developed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. After partial pancreatectomy, 51.3% of patients were taking pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy. Among nondiabetics, 26% developed diabetes after partial pancreatectomy, of which 38% were insulin-dependent. Eighteen patients (13.7%) developed incisional hernia.

CONCLUSION

Given the rates of morbidity and long-term complications after pancreatic resections, surgeons should attentively balance the true risks of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm degeneration with the risks of surgical resection in each patient.

Nutritional status of patients undergoing pancreatic resection

Changes in the exocrine function of the pancreas often develops after proximal and distal resections. Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) is characterized by a reduced secretion of pancreatic enzymes, because of which the digestion and absorption of nutrients is impaired. Clinical manifestations of EPI and, as a consequence, changes in nutritional status significantly affect the quality of life of patients.

Parenchymal Sparing Resection: Options in Duodenal and Pancreatic Surgery

Parenchymal sparing duodenal and pancreatic resection are safe procedures in selected patients with the aim to reduce endocrine and exocrine long-term dysfunction. When the tumor is benign or borderline malignant, this appears to be a good option for the surgeon, associated with low rates of severe surgery-related early postoperative complications and low in-hospital mortality. This mini review offers comments, tips and tricks, and a review of literature concerning those different options with specific illustrations in order to clarify their indication.

Update on gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

The incidence gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) has dramatically risen over the last three decades, probably due to the increased detection of asymptomatic lesions. The diagnostic work-up for patients with suspected GEP-NENs is based on conventional imaging, endoscopy, pathology, and functional imaging, including ⁶⁸Gallium-DOTATATE PET and ¹⁸F-FDG PET. The choice of the best treatment strategy should be based on the evaluation of tumor-related features and patient's characteristics. A conservative management, consisting of active surveillance or endoscopic resection, has been advocated for patients with small, incidentally discovered, nonfunctioning tumors without features of aggressiveness. On the other hand, surgery with lymphadenectomy, also with a minimally invasive approach, represents the gold standard for the curative treatment of localized disease. Moreover, surgical resection plays an important role also in the context of a multimodal treatment strategy for patients with advanced GEP-NENs. Finally, a wide range of medical therapies, comprising somatostatin analogues, peptide receptor radionuclide therapy, target therapies and several chemotherapy regimens, can be offered to patients with advanced GEP-NENs not amenable of surgical resection, according to the biological and molecular features of their disease.

Risk of malignancy and prognosis of sporadic resected small (≤2 cm) nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

Background

Small nonfunctional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NF-PNETs) ≤2 cm have variable biological features, and there is no gold standard treatment for their management. The present study aimed to evaluate the risk of malignancy of small NF-PNETs and their outcomes following curative resection.

Methods

Patients with NF-PNETs undergoing surgical resection at the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, between 2012 and 2017 were included. Clinicopathological characteristics, perioperative results, and prognosis were retrospectively analyzed.

Results

A total of 73 patients were identified, including 28 with small NF-PNETs and 45 large PNETs; 32.1% of NF-PNETs ≤2 cm underwent a parenchyma-sparing pancreas surgery, which was >6.7% in large NF-PNETs. No statistically significant differences in perioperative results, postoperative complications, and long-term outcomes were found between small tumors undergoing standard and parenchyma-sparing pancreatectomy. Eighteen small tumors (64.3%) developed a perioperative complication, with a clinically significant pancreatic fistula rate of 25%; however, only 2 patient needed reintervention. Small NF-PNETs in 3 patients were malignant. Multivariate logistic regression showed that grade ≥3 and lymphovascular invasion were independently related to malignancy in NF-PNETs.

Conclusions

Small NF-PNETs (≤2 cm) are not immune from potential malignancy. Surgical resection may be considered for small tumors and can provide favorable postoperative and long-term outcomes. Parenchyma-sparing pancreatectomy may be an alternative surgery for selected small local NF-PNETs.

Differential Diagnosis and Management of Diarrhea in Patients with Neuroendocrine Tumors

Diarrhea is a recurrent symptom in patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and can represent different etiologies; thus, differential diagnosis is challenging. This paper distinguishes the different causes of chronic diarrhea in patients with gastroenteropancreatic NETs, with the aim to identify the most appropriate therapeutic approach. Underlying causes of diarrhea can be multifactorial, including not only diarrhea that is related to specific hormonal hypersecretory syndromes, but also diarrhea that is secondary to the following: extensive surgery which can cause pancreatic exocrine insufficiency or short bowel syndrome, treatment with somatostatin analogs or other antineoplastic agents, and bile acid malabsorption. After initial management of diarrhea with general treatments (dietary modification, use of antidiarrheals), a proper differential diagnosis is necessary to treat patients with specific etiology-driven therapeutic approaches, such as somatostatin analogs, pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, and tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitors. In conclusion, NETs should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients suffering from chronic diarrhea, after the exclusion of more common etiologies. Furthermore, physicians should keep in mind that several different etiologies might be responsible for diarrhea occurrence in NET patients. A prompt diagnosis of the actual cause of diarrhea is necessary to guide the treatment and a multidisciplinary approach is mandatory.

Surgical Principles in the Management of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms

OPINION STATEMENT

Pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PanNENs) are increasingly recognized entities, whose incidence has dramatically grown during the last two decades. Surgery plays a pivotal role in their management as it represents the only chance of cure. Since PanNENs display a wide range of aggressiveness, their surgical management needs to be tailored on tumor's and patient's characteristics. Currently, there are several open questions and burning issues in the field of PanNEN, such as the management of asymptomatic nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NF-PanNET) ≤ 2 cm. An active surveillance of these small lesions has been demonstrated to be safe although the available evidences are only based on retrospective studies. On the other hand, formal pancreatic resection associated with lymphadenectomy represents the gold standard for patients with localized NF-PanNEN > 2 cm or NF-PanNEN ≤ 2 cm in the presence of symptoms, dilation of the main pancreatic duct or suspicion of nodal metastases. Surgery plays also an important role in the setting of metastatic disease. In particular, surgery is generally recommended in the presence of low-grade, resectable, metastatic disease, but several series have reported also a survival benefit of palliative primary tumor resection in patients with unresectable liver metastases. The role of surgery in PanNEN G3 is still controversial. Indeed, surgery is associated with an improved survival in patients with well-differentiated PanNET G3, whereas there is almost no survival benefit in case of poorly differentiated lesions.