Pancreatectomy for adenocarcinoma: prognostic factors,recommendations for pathological reports

The ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is a tumor with very poor prognosis, often diagnosed at an advanced stage of evolution. The surgical resection of the tumor is performed in only 15% of the patients but only 10% of them are alive 5 years later. The bad prognostic factors individualized on surgical specimens are the tumor size (>2 cm), lymph node metastases, the poor differentiation of the tumor on microscopic examination, the infiltration of the portal vein and mesenteric vessels by the tumor, the infiltration of the surgical margins, especially the retroperitoneal margin of the tumor. We propose a pre-established form including these items for pathological reports of pancreatectomy for adenocarcinomas.