Abstract
A total of 125 patients with carcinoma of the pancreatic head region was treated at the department, and 57 out of 125 patients underwent curative resection. Twenty-three of the 57 patients had recurrence of known pattern. In these 23 patients, pathological factors, clinical stage, and postoperative survival time were comparatively studied in terms of presence of hepatic metastasis. Among recurrent cases of cancer of the pancreatic head, 66.7% of them were more than t3, and all of them were more than ly2 and v2. Most tumors were large in size and had advanced vessel involvement. There were no significant correlation between hepatic recurrence and pathological factors in carcinomas of the lower bile duct and ampulla of Vater. Of these 23 recurrent cases, all 4 cases of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma recurred in the liver. Most recurrent cases of carcinoma of the pancreatic head were in an advanced stage, 44.4% in Stage III and 33.3% in Stage IV. There were no significant differences between hepatic recurrence and stage. All cases of carcinoma of the lower bile duct with hepatic recurrence and 50% of those of ampullary carcinoma with hepatic recurrence were in StageIII 6r more. These findings indicated that most cases with hepatic recurrence were in advanced stage. Average postoperative survival time was short in cases with hepatic recurrence compared with those without hepatic recurrence as to carcinomas of the pancreatic head region. It is thought that metastasis to the liver might be a determinant factor for the prognosis.
