Objective To investigate the application value of laparoscopic duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection (LDPPHR).

Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 25 patients undergoing LDPPHR in the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University from November 2016 to November 2020 were collected. There were 7 males and 18 females, aged from 14 to 66 years, with a median age of 29 years. All the 25 patients underwent LDPPHR. Observation indicators: (1) surgical situations; (2) postoperative histopathological examination; (3) follow-up. Follow-up was conducted using outpatient examination or telephone interview to detect the recovery of patients up to March 2021. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M (range) and count data were descripted as absolute numbers.

Results (1) Surgical situations: all the 25 patients underwent LDPPHR successfully, including 23 cases undergoing total pancreatic head resection and 2 cases undergoing subtotal pancreatic head resection. The operation time and volume of intraoperative blood loss of 25 patients were 310 minutes (range, 207 to 540 minutes) and 200 mL (range, 50 to 800 mL), respectively. Of the 25 patients, 1 case was infused with 4 U of red blood cells and 400 mL of plasma, 1 case was infused with 500 mL of plasma, 1 case was infused with 600 mL of plasma and the remaining 22 cases were not infused with red blood cells or plasma. Of the 25 patients, 3 cases with pancreatic fistula of class B were discharged after drainage, 4 cases had biliary fistula including 2 cases undergoing symptoms disappeared after implantation of common bile duct stent by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, 1 case recovering well with drainage, 1 case with postoperative perihepatic effusion undergoing symptoms disappeared after the treatment of drainage and common bile duct stent implantation, and the remaining 18 cases had no complications. The duration of postoperative hospital stay was 17 days (range, 9 to 27 days) of the 25 patients. (2) Postoperative histopathological examination: the tumor volume of the 25 patients was 6.0 cm×5.0 cm×2.0 cm (range, 1.0 cm×2.0 cm×1.5 cm to 10.0 cm×9.0 cm×8.0 cm). Results of the postoperative histopathological examination showed that there were 12 cases with pancreatic solid pseudopaillary neoplasm, 4 cases with intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm, 3 cases with serous cystadenoma, 2 cases with mucinous cystadenoma, 1 case with neuroendocrine neoplasm, 1 case with pancreatic true cyst, 1 case with cholesterol crystals combined with calcification in the center of pancreatic nodules and 1 case with cavernous hemangioma of pancreas. (3) Follow-up: all the 25 patients were followed up for 4 months to 48 months, with a median follow-up time of 27 months. During the follow-up, 1 case of the 25 patients with postoperative diabetes controlled blood glucose in the normal range after regular injection of insulin, 1 case with fatty diarrhea had symptoms improved after oral supplement of pancreatic enzyme preparation, 1 case with preoperative intermittent dizziness, weakness of both lower limbs and hypoglycemia had the level of blood glucose returned to normal without any special treatment after operation, and the remaining 23 cases had no metabolic complications. None of the 25 patients had tumor malignant transformation, recurrence or death. No long-term complications such as delayed gastric emptying, bile duct stones or stricture occurred to the 25 patients.

Conclusion LDPPHR is safe and feasible for the treatment of benign or low-grade malignant tumors of the pancreatic head, with the advantage of preserving the integrity of digestive tract.