Ten-year survival after pancreatoduodenectomy for advanced gastric cancer - Report of two cases

We performed pancreatoduodenectomy for 5 patients with gastric cancer, and here we present 2 who have survived for more than 10 years. Patient one had a large antral tumor tightly adherent to the head of the pancreas. Pancreatoduodenectomy with lymph node dissection was performed. Pathologic examination of the resected specimen revealed that the tumor was a well differentiated adenocarcinoma invading the duodenum, but not the pancreas. Patient two had an infrapyloric lymph node metastasis invading not only the pancreatic head, but also the duodenocolic ligament and the transverse mesocolon. Pancreatoduodenectomy and right hemicolectomy with lymph node dissection were performed. Pathological examination of the resected specimen revealed grade III lymph node metastasis, and invasion of the pancreas by the metastatic infrapyloric lymph node. These results indicate that complete resection of tumor by pancreatoduodenectomy may result in a long survival not only for the patients in whom pancreatic invasion and/or lymph node metastasis is limited, but also for some patients with tumor invading the pancreatic parenchyma and/or of grade III lymph node metastasis.