Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on short-term outcomes after pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer: A retrospective study from the Japanese National Clinical Database, 2018-2021

Aim: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic greatly impacted medical resources such as cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment given to people for various diseases. We surveyed the impacts of the pandemic on the incidence of complications and mortality following pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer in Japan. Methods: Data on patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer were extracted from the Japanese National Clinical Database (NCD) between 2018 and 2021. The number of the pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer were obtained and then the morbidity and mortality rates were evaluated using a standardized morbidity/mortality ratio (SMR), which is the ratio of the observed number of incidences to the expected number of incidences calculated by the risk calculator previously developed by the NCD. Results: This study included 22 255 cases. The number of pancreaticoduodenectomies exhibited an increasing trend even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mean observed incidence rates of Grade C pancreatic fistula and Clavien-Dindo grade >= 4 complications, and the 30-day mortality and surgical mortality rates were 0.8%, 1.8%, 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively. The standardized morbidity ratios did not increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. The standardized mortality ratios remained within the range of variations observed before the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The increasing trend in the number of pancreaticoduodenectomies and favorable short-term outcomes even in the COVID-19 pandemic suggest the medical care for pancreatic cancer in Japan functioned well during the pandemic.