THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE WHIPPLE PROCEDURE FOR AMPULLARY AND PERIAMPULLARY CARCINOMA

Between 1980 and 1994, 22 patients underwent Whipple operation for duc tal adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas and adenocarcinoma of t he papilla of Vater at the Ist Department of Surgery, University of Ro me ''La Sapienza''. All resections were performed by the same surgical equipe, Preoperative biliary drainage was performed in 14 patients wi th severe jaundice. There was no mortality related to the adopted proc edure. Two patients presented moderate postoperative complications: le akage of the pancreatojejunostomy and lymphorrea which were resolved i n about 2 weeks. One patient died in the postoperative course because of severe hepatorenal failure due to previous biliary cirrhosis and ch olangitis. Our data agree with recent literature reports and show that Whipple operation or its variants still constitute a valid choice in the treatment of tumors of the head of the pancreas and of the papilla of Vater.