Topic Highlight
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 7, 2014; 20(37): 13402-13411
Published online Oct 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i37.13402
Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy for adenocarcinoma of the pancreas
Bergthor Björnsson, Per Sandström
Bergthor Björnsson, Per Sandström, Department of Surgery, County Council of Östergötland and Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden
Author contributions: Björnsson B and Sandström P designed the research, performed the research and wrote the paper.
Correspondence to: Bergthor Björnsson, MD, Department of Surgery, County Council of Östergötland and Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, 58185 Linköping, Sweden. bergthor.bjornsson@lio.se
Telephone: +46-10-1030000 Fax: +46-10-1033570
Received: November 16, 2013
Revised: February 11, 2014
Accepted: April 21, 2014
Published online: October 7, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: There are about 300 published cases of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy for adenocarcinoma reported in the English literature. None of these cases has been included in randomized prospective work and it is doubtful that such a study will ever be conducted. This objective of this review was to evaluate the appropriateness of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy as treatment for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The results suggest that this minimally invasive technique may be safely applied to treat the disease in addition to the other more established indications for the operation.