[Pancreatectomy for intraductal papillary mucinous tumor of the pancreas].

Twelve cases of pancreatectomy for intraductal papillary-mucinous tumor of the pancreas operated between August 1985 and February 1996 are reported. Mean age of the patients was 57.6 years (range: 25 to 77 years). Two of them were female and 10 were male. Ten patients underwent a pylorus preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy, one patient a segmental isthmic pancreatectomy and one other a left pancreatectomy. Histologic examination of the operative specimen showed benign ademomatosis with severe dysplasia in 3 cases, intramucosal or microinvasive carcinoma in 7 cases and invasive carcinoma in 2 cases. Two patients died during the period of follow-up, one at 20 months from metastases, the other one at 33 months accidentally. The 10 remaining patients were alive and disease-free with a follow-up of 3 to 93 months (mean time of follow-up: 38 months). Pancreatectomy is indicated without delay as soon as the diagnosis of this uncommon tumor is obtained.