Duodenum-Preserving Resection of the Head of the Pancreas: The Significance as a Diagnostic Therapy for the Lesion in the Pancreatic Head

A 75-year-old man who was diagnosed as having mucin-producing pancreatic cystic lesion ofthemain pancreatic duct by duodenoscopic examination was reported. Because of the lowmalignant potential of such lesions, duodenum-preserving resection of the head of the pancreaswas performed, and the intra-operative histological examination showed no malig-nancy of theresected pancreatic head and no other surgical procedures, such as lymph-adenectomy norpancreato-duodenectomy were necessary. The significance of this case report lies in that a lessinvasive operation should be selected at first to diagnose whether the lesion is malignant or not,and als0 that the selected operation itself must be sufficient to resect an adequate part of thepancreatic tissue involving the cystic lesion, ifnot malignant. Here, we report the process to selectthe procedure and the surgical technique.