Values of spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy in well-differentiated non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: a comparative study

Background The feasibility of spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy (SPDP) to treat well-differentiated non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NF-pNETs) located at the body and/or tail of the pancreas remains controversial. Distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy (DPS) has been widely applied in the treatment of NF-pNETs; however, it may increase the post-operative morbidities. This study aimed to evaluate whether SPDP is inferior to DPS in post-operative outcomes and survivals when being used to treat patients with NF-pNETs in our institute. Methods Clinicopathological features of patients with NF-pNETs who underwent curative SPDP or DPS at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) between January 2010 and January 2022 were collected. Short-term outcomes and 5-year survivals were compared between patients undergoing SPDP and those undergoing DPS. Results Sixty-three patients (SPDP, 27; DPS, 36) with well-differentiated NF-pNETs were enrolled. All patients had grade 1/2 tumors. After identifying patients with T1-T2 NF-pNETs (SPDP, 27; DPS, 15), there was no disparity between the SPDP and DPS groups except for tumor size (median, 1.4 vs 2.6 cm, P = 0.001). There were no differences in operation time (median, 250 vs 295 min, P = 0.478), intraoperative blood loss (median, 50 vs 100 mL, P = 0.145), post-operative major complications (3.7% vs 13.3%, P = 0.287), clinically relevant post-operative pancreatic fistula (22.2% vs 6.7%, P = 0.390), or post-operative hospital stays (median, 9 vs 9 days, P = 0.750) between the SPDP and DPS groups. Kaplan-Meier curve showed no significant differences in the 5-year overall survival rate (100% vs 100%, log-rank P > 0.999) or recurrence-free survival (100% vs 100%, log-rank P > 0.999) between patients with T1-T2 NF-pNETs undergoing SPDP and those undergoing DPS. Conclusions In patients with T1-T2 well-differentiated NF-pNETs, SPDP could achieve comparable post-operative outcomes and prognosis compared with DPS.