Radical Antegrade Modular Pancreato-splenectomy (RAMPS)

Radical Antegrade Modular Pancreato-Splenectomy (RAMPS) is a procedure for adenocarcinoma of the body and tail of the pancreas. It is focused on obtaining negative margins, N1 node dissection and early control of blood supply. The posterior margin is always behind the anterior renal fascia but the posterior margin is modular passing either anterior or posterior to the adrenal gland. Anterior RAMPS is used when the tumor does not penetrate the posterior margin of the pancreas on computed tomography and posterior RAMPS is used when it does. Other adjacent organs are often also resected. Very satisfactory results in terms of margin and node yield have been obtained in a number of centers.