Postoperative complications and short-term prognosis of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy vs. open pancreaticoduodenectomy for treating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a retrospective cohort study

Background: Although laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD) has been accepted worldwide for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), it remains a very technical and challenging procedure. Also, whether LPD is superior to open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD) remains unclear. This study summarized the experience and efficacy of LPD to PDA in our medical center from October 2019 and January 2021. Methods This retrospective cohort study included patients with PDA admitted at the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University. Patients received either LPD or OPD. Clinical outcomes (operation time, duration of anesthesia, intraoperative hemorrhage), postoperative complications, and short-term outcomes were compared. Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier method were used to analyze overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Results Among the PDA patients, 97 patients underwent surgical treatment, and 7 of them received conservative treatment. Forty-six patients were cured with LPD, and 1 of them died shortly after the operation. Moreover, 44 patients received OPD, and there were 2 postoperative deaths. There were significant differences in the location of the operation time, duration of anesthesia, postoperative hemorrhage, abdominal infections, and postoperative pneumonia between the two groups (all P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that LPD was an independent factor negatively correlated with the incidence of pneumonia (relative risk (RR) = 0.072, 95%CI: 0.016–0.326, p =  0.001) and abdominal infection (RR = 0.182, 95%CI: 0.047–0.709, p =  0.014). Also, there were no differences in OS (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.46, 95%CI:0.60–3.53, p =  0.40) and PFS (HR = 1.46, 95%CI:0.64–3.32, p =  0.37) at 12 months between the two groups. Conclusions LPD is a safe and feasible strategy for managing selected PDA patients. Also, LPD has a better effect on reducing postoperative pneumonia and abdominal infection compared to OPD.