No survival benefit from combined pancreaticosplenectomy and total gastrectomy for gastric cancer

BACKGROUND: It remains unknown whether extended surgery improves the survival rate of patients with gastric cancer. This study was a review of combined pancreaticosplenectomy with total gastrectomy for gastric cancer. METHODS: The clinicopathological details of 190 patients who underwent combined pancreaticosplenectomy with total gastrectomy between 1969 and 1996 were compared retrospectively with those of 206 patients who underwent total gastrectomy with splenectomy alone. RESULTS: There was no statistical difference in the survival rate when pancreaticosplenectomy was added to total gastrectomy. The mortality rate was similar, but the morbidity rate was higher in patients who had pancreaticosplenectomy. Six patients who had direct pancreatic invasion and two thought to have involved lymph nodes along the splenic artery survived for more than 5 years after operation. In the latter group, the metastatic lymph nodes along the splenic artery could have been resected without pancreatectomy. CONCLUSION: Since a combined pancreaticosplenectomy adds no survival advantage to total gastrectomy for gastric cancer, this procedure should no longer be regarded as routine.