Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal disease with a median 5 year survival of 2–9%.
1 Routine lymphadenectomy is considered an important component of curative-intent pancreatectomy.
1,2 The American College of Surgeons
Operative Standards for Cancer Surgery recommends routine dissection of the nodal basins along the “common bile duct, common hepatic artery, portal vein, posterior and anterior pancreaticoduodenal arcades, superior mesenteric vein, and right lateral wall of the superior mesenteric artery” during pancreatoduodenectomy and “along the splenic artery, at the supra- and infrapancreatic border, and at the splenic hilum” for distal pancreatectomy.
2 Resection of additional lymph nodes beyond these basins is typically referred to as extended lymphadenectomy. …
