Contemporary Assessment of Need for Palliative Bypass After Aborted Pancreatoduodenectomy Following Neoadjuvant Therapy

Background Planned pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) for pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) can be aborted due to intraoperative findings. There is little guidance regarding the need for prophylactic bypass following an aborted PD to prevent symptomatic biliary obstruction or gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) postoperatively. The aim of this study was to characterize postoperative interventions and postsurgical survival in patients following aborted PD. Methods Patients with PDAC treated with neoadjuvant therapy and staging laparoscopy prior to planned PD between 2010 and 2015 were reviewed for aborted PDs. Data on postoperative biliary obstruction, GOO, procedural intervention, and postsurgical survival were analyzed. Results Of 271 planned PDs, 47 (17.3%) were aborted. Thirty-six patients had ≥ 2 months of follow-up data and were included. Six patients underwent hepaticojejunostomy and nine patients underwent gastrojejunostomy at the time of the aborted PD. Sixteen of 30 patients (53%) without a surgical biliary bypass required endoscopic intervention, but none required palliative surgery. Ten of 27 patients (37%) without an operative gastrojejunostomy required intervention, but none required palliative surgery. Endoscopic or percutaneous therapy was required to treat 13/16 (81%) patients who presented with postoperative biliary obstructions and 6/10 (60%) of GOOs. Median survival following aborted PD was 13.3 months (CI 8.9–17.7). There were no differences in survival when comparing patients who developed a biliary obstruction ( p = 0.92) or GOO ( p = 0.90) to asymptomatic patients. Conclusions Following aborted PD, patients commonly develop obstructive symptoms. However, these symptoms can generally be managed without surgical intervention. In asymptomatic patients, preemptive surgical bypasses are not required at the time of aborted PD.