Pancreaticoduodenectomy at a Non-high-volume Center and Efforts to Perform Safe Surgery.

AIM The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the artery-first approach (AFA) improved surgical outcomes of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) at our non-high-volume center. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed data on 121 consecutive patients who underwent PD between January 2009 and December 2018. The perioperative data of 49 patients who underwent conventional PD (conventional group) and 72 patients who underwent PD via artery-first approach were analyzed and compared to assess the effectiveness of the AFA. RESULTS Although no significant difference was observed between the two groups overall, in those with pancreatic cancer, the duration of surgery, intraoperative blood loss and transfusion rate in the AFA group (n=33) were significantly lower than those for the conventional group (n=11) (p=0.011, p=0.021 and p=0.038 respectively). CONCLUSION AFA can be used to reduce the operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and transfusion rate in patients with pancreatic cancer.