Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Complete Tumor Extirpation Improves Survival Benefit Despite Larger Tumors for Patients Who Undergo Distal Pancreatectomy and Splenectomy

Introduction  

Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma have poor survival. Presumably, tumors in the body or tail of the pancreas, due to paucity of symptoms, present later than patients with tumors in the head of the pancreas. This study was undertaken to determine if tumors amenable to complete extirpation by distal pancreatectomy/splenectomy have worse survival when compared to their proximal counterparts.