Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of pancreaticoduodenectomy with TRIANGLE operation in the treatment of pancreatic head cancer.

Methods The retrospective cohort study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 51 patients with pancreatic head cancer who were admitted to the Sichuan Provincial People′s Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of School of Medicine of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China from January 2017 to July 2018 were collected. There were 33 males and 18 females, aged from 42 to 74 years, with a median age of 56 years. Of the 51 patients, 24 cases undergoing standard pancreaticoduodenectomy, in which No.12, 13 and 17 lymph nodes were dissected, combined with transcatheter arterial infusion chemo-therapy (TAI) were allocated into the standard group, and 27 cases undergoing pancreaticoduo-denectomy with TRIANGLE operation, in which No.7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17 lymph nodes were dissected, combined with TAI were allocated into the TRIANGLE group, respectively. Observation indicators: (1) intraoperative conditions of the two groups; (2) postoperative conditions of the two groups; (3) follow-up and survival. Follow-up was conducted using outpatient examination and telephone interview once three months to detect tumor recurrence and metastasis and survival of patients up to July 2021 or the death of patient. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the t test. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range), and comparison between groups was analyzed using the chi-square test or the Fisher exact probability. Comparison of ordinal data was analyzed using the rank sum test. Kaplan‐Meier method was used to calculate the survival rate and median survival time and draw survival curve. Log‐Rank test was used for survival analysis.

Results (1) Comparison of intraoperative conditions between the two groups. The operation time, volume of intraoperative blood loss, cases with intraoperative blood transfusion were (501±61)minutes, (563±278)mL, 4 in the standard group, versus (556±46)minutes, (489±234)mL, 6 in the TRIANGLE group, respectively. There was a significant difference in the operation time between the two groups (t=3.62, P<0.05) but there was no significant difference in the volume of intraoperative blood loss or cases with intraoperative blood transfusion between the two groups (t=1.03, χ²=0.25, P>0.05). (2) Comparison of postoperative conditions between the two groups. Of the 51 patients, 30 had 50 times of postoperative complications, including 18 times of grade Ⅰ complications of Clavien-Dindo classification, 29 times of grade Ⅱ complications of Clavien-Dindo classification, 2 times of grade Ⅲa complications of Clavien-Dindo classification, 1 time of grade Ⅲb complications of Clavien-Dindo classification, respectively. Cases with postoperative complications, cases with delayed gastric emptying, cases without or with pancreatic fistula as class A or class B, cases with biliary fistula, cases with bleeding, cases with diarrhea were 15, 4, 13, 7, 4, 4, 2, 2 in the standard group, versus 15, 6, 14, 10, 3, 4, 1, 3 in the TRIANGLE group, respectively. There was no significant difference in cases with postoperative complications, cases with delayed gastric emptying, cases with pancreatic fistula between the two groups (χ²=0.16, 0.02, Z=-0.04, P>0.05) and there was no significant difference in cases with biliary fistula, cases with bleeding, cases with diarrhea between the two groups (P>0.05). Cases with complications as Clavien-Dindo grade Ⅰ, grade Ⅱ, grade Ⅲ were 10, 11, 2 in the standard group, versus 8, 18, 1 in the TRIANGLE group, showing no significant difference between the two groups (Z=-0.67, P>0.05). The duration of postoperative hospital stay was (23±8)days in both of the standard group and the TRIANGLE group, showing no significant difference between the two groups (t=0.31, P>0.05). (3) Follow-up and survival. All the 51 patients were followed-up for 6 to 54 months, with a median follow-up time of 17 months. The postoperative 1-year overall survival rate was 75.0% and 81.5% in the standard group and the TRIANGLE group, respectively. The postoperative 3-year overall survival rate was 12.5% and 22.2% in the standard group and the TRIANGLE group, respectively. The median postoperative survival time was 15.00 months (95% confidence interval as 12.63 to 17.37 months) and 21.00 months (95% confidence interval as 15.91 to 19.62 months) in the standard group and the TRIANGLE group, respectively. There was a significant difference in survival of patients between the two groups (χ²=4.30,P<0.05). Cases with tumor recurrence during post-operative 1 year and 3 year were 9 and 20 in the standard group, versus 6 and 15 in the TRIANGLE group, respectively. There was no significant difference in cases with tumor recurrence during postoperative 1 year between the two groups (P>0.05) and there was a significant difference in cases with tumor recurrence during postoperative 3 year between the two groups (P<0.05).

Conclusion Compared with standard pancreaticoduodenectomy, pancreaticoduodenectomy with TRIANGLE operation can prolong the median survival time of patients with pancreatic head cancer without increasing surgical related complications.