Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy in elderly patients with peri-operative short-term outcomes and safety. Methods Retrospectively analysis was done with the clinical data of patients who underwent laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy in our department from January 2015 to January 2018. Patients were divided into elderly group (ages 70 years and old) and control group (ages less than 70 years) to compare baseline characteristics and perioperative outcomes between two groups. Results Totally 82 patients were included in this study with 46 male and 36 female and mean age (64.6±10.7) years. There were 27 patients in elderly group and 55 patients in control group. Mean operative time was (368±75) min in elderly group with median blood loss 200 (100-400) mL and median postoperative length of hospital stay 12.0 (10-21)d. In control group, mean operation time was (363±82) min with median blood loss 100 (100-200) mL and median postoperative length of hospital stay 11.5 (10-16) d. There was no statistics difference between two groups. Postoperative 90-day mortality rate was not different statistically between two groups patients. However, higher postoperative morbidity rate was found in elderly group patients (40.7%) more than that in control group patients (20.0%) (P=0.05). Conclusions Laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy was feasible in elderly patients. Relatively higher postoperative morbidity rate of elderly patients should be cautioned when laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed in elderly patients.

Key words: Pancreaticoduodenectomy, Pancreatic surgery, Laparoscopy, Minimally invasive surgery, Elderly patient