Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of radical resection of pancreatic cancer after neoadjuvant conversion therapy.

Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 23 patients who underwent radical resection of pancreatic cancer after neoadjuvant conversion therapy in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical School from January 2019 to May 2022 were collected. There were 17 males and 6 females, aged 58(range, 33-73)years. After neoadjuvant conversion therapy, the three‑dimensional (3D) visualization was used to evaluate and classify tumor vascular invasion, and surgical plan was planned and implemented. Observation indicators: (1) situations of neoadjuvant conversion therapy; (2) surgical situations; (3) postoperative histopathological examination; (4) postoperative recovery; (5) follow‑up. Measurement data with normal distribution were represen-ted as Mean±SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range) or M(Q₁,Q₃). Count data were described as absolute numbers.

Results (1) Situations of neoadjuvant conversion therapy. All 23 patients received the AG combination chemotherapy (albumin‑paclitaxel+gemcitabine), including 14 patients combined with stereotactic body radiation therapy. Of the 23 patients, 22 cases achieved partial response, and 1 case showed stable disease. The CA19‑9 of the 23 patients was 85.06(29.74,634.5)U/mL and 13.96(9.74,25.02)U/mL before and after neoadjuvant conversion therapy, respectively. (2) Surgical situations. According to the results of preoperative 3D visualization of tumor vascular invasion, 7 of the 23 patients were evaluated as arterial invasion, 8 cases were evaluated as venous invasion, 5 cases were evaluated as arterial and venous invasion, and there were 3 cases showing negative of vascular invasion. Of the 23 patients, 12 cases underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, 4 cases underwent radical antegrade modular pancreatosplenectomy, 7 cases underwent total pancreaticoduodenectomy. For vascular reconstruction, there were 10 patients without vascular reconstruction, and there were 13 patients undergoing artificial vascular vein reconstruction. The operation time and volume of intraoperative blood loss of the 23 patients was (524±171)minutes and 1 000(400,1 600)mL, respectively. (3) Postoperative histopathological exami-nation. Results of postoperative histopathological examination in 23 patients showed that there were 2 cases with moderate‑well differentiated tumor, 10 cases with moderate differentiated tumor, 7 cases with moderate‑poorly differentiated tumor, 2 cases with poorly differentiated tumor, and 2 cases negative of tumor. The number of lymph node dissected in 23 patients was 16±7. There were 5 cases with lymph node metastasis and 18 cases without lymph node metastasis. There were 17 cases with nerve invasion and 6 cases without nerve invasion. All 23 patients were negative of vascular invasion. Of the 23 patients, there were 21 cases with R₀ resection and 2 cases with R₁ resection. For pathological TNM staging, there were 2 cases with 0 stage, 13 cases with Ⅰ stage, 7 cases with Ⅱ stage, and 1 case with Ⅳ stage. For postoperative pathological scoring, there were 2 cases achieved 0 point (complete pathological remission), 16 cases achieved 2 points (partial remission), and 5 cases achieved 3 points (no significant effect). (4) Postoperative recovery. The postoperative duration of hospital stay of 23 patients was 19(14,31)days. There were 17 of 23 patients underwent postoperative complications, including 11 cases with Clavien‑Dindo Ⅱ stage complications, 3 cases with Clavien‑Dindo Ⅲa stage complications, 1 case with Clavien‑Dindo Ⅲb stage complication, 1 case with Clavien‑Dindo Ⅳ stage complication, and 1 case with Clavien‑Dindo Ⅴ stage complica-tion. (5) Follow‑up. There were 22 patients underwent follow‑up, with follow‑up time as 12(9,23)months. There were 9 patients underwent postoperative recurrence and metastasis, with recurrence and metastasis time as 7.8(range, 6.0-12.0)months. During the follow‑up, 15 of the 22 patients survived.

Conclusion Radical resection of pancreatic cancer after neoadjuvant conversion therapy is feasible.