Comparative Analysis of the Results of Various Methods for Pancreatic Head Resection in Chronic Pancreatitis

Background In more than half of cases of chronic pancreatitis (CP), enlargement of the pancreatic head is diagnosed with the presence of complications that serve as an indication for organ resection. The development of an optimal method for the surgical treatment of CP with damage to the pancreatic head (PH) is one of the tasks of surgical pancreatology. Aim of study To perform comparative evaluation of immediate and late results of different types of PH resection in CP. Material and methods A prospective controlled study was conducted with a comparative analysis of the results of surgical treatment of 131 patients with CP with pancreatic head enlargement. In 29% (n=38) cases inflammatory complications were revealed, in 86.3% (n=113), they have been associated with compression of adjacent organs, jaundice also developed (n=60), as well as duodenal obstruction at the level of duodenum (n=43), regional portal hypertension (n=10). A total of 47 pancreatoduodenal, 58 subtotal, and 26 partial resections of the pancreas were performed. Results Duodenum preserving pancreatic head resections had significantly better short-term results compared to pancreatoduodenal resections. Subtotal PH resection in the Bern’s version was superior to all other resections in terms of average duration of surgery, postoperative inpatient treatment, and intraoperative blood loss. The frequency of relaparotomy for intraperitoneal complications of hemorrhagic etiology was 8.2% (n=4). The frequency of the adverse effect according to pain preservation 5 years after duodenum preserving resection tract was 0.125; after pancreatoduodenal resection - 0.357 with a statistically significant relative risk (RR) of 0.350 (CI95% = 0.13–0.98). According to other indicators of clinical long-term surgical treatment depending on the various methods of PH resection, there were no statistically significant differences (p>0.05). The quality of life of patients 5 years after the operation according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire was statistically significant (p=0.0228) by only two indicators: dyspnea (DY:8.3) and insomnia (SL:16.67; 27.4) with higher values after operations of Beger and the Bern’s version of the subtotal PH resection, respectively.