Technical and mechanical risk factors for postoperative pancreatic fistula in pancreaticojejunostomy.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The purpose of this study was to identify basic risk factors for postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) after pancreaticojejunostomy.

METHODOLOGY: Seventy-one patients underwent pancreaticojejunostomy with duct-to-mucosa anastomosis (DMA). Between POPF group (n=8) and non- POPF group (n=63), the following clinical parameters were compared; pancreatic texture evaluated pathologically with score, diameter of the pancreatic duct, total number of sutures, interval between sutures and the size of suture (5-0 vs. 6-0) for DMA.

RESULTS

The mean diameter of the pancreatic duct (POPF/non-POPF) was 3.0±1.4/4.2±2.0mm, total number of sutures for DMA was 6.8±1.6/7.0±2.8, whereas mean interval between sutures was 1.4±0.5/2.1±1.1mm, which failed to achieve significant difference. All cases except one that produced POPF had soft pancreas (p=0.0022). However, for the soft pancreas, the score of pancreatic texture did not achieve significant difference between POPF and non-POPF. 5-0 sutures had less chance of POPF (p=0.0035). As a result of multivariate analysis, suture size and pancreatic texture correlated with POPF.

CONCLUSIONS

The suture size and pancreatic texture were risk factors for POPF. Since these factors are related to surgical techniques, gentle handling during pancreaticojejunostomy seems important.