Search

Background: There is evidence that a high hospital volume of pancreaticoduodenectomy improves short-and long-term outcomes, but there are few population-based studies on the effect of a high resection rate in the population. The aim of this national, observational study was primarily to investigate differences in overall survival among elderly patients with cancer in the pancreatic head between high and low resection rate groups and secondarily to determine if counties with high resection rates of pancreaticoduodenectomy had more severe complications after surgery. Materials and methods: All patients in the Swedish National Registry for tumours in the pancreatic and periampullary region diagnosed between 2010 and 2018 with pancreatic head cancer were included in this retrospective cohort study. Patients were divided into low and high resection rate groups according to the yearly resection rates in the respective counties. For operative outcomes, all patients who had undergone pancreaticoduodenectomy were included regardless of diagnosis. The primary outcome of the study was overall survival among patients aged >= 70 years with pancreatic head cancer. Results: Among 13 933 patients in the registry, 7661 were 70 years or older, of whom 3006 had pancreatic head cancer. Overall survival was longer in high resection rate groups for patients aged >= 70 years, as for the age subgroups 70-79 years and >= 80 years (all p < 0.001). Among patients who had undergone pancreaticoduodenectomy aged >= 80 years the high resection rate counties showed an increased rate of severe complications, but no increase in 90-day mortality. Conclusion: High resection rate groups show a significantly longer overall survival among elderly patients with pancreatic head cancer in Sweden. This implies that there could be a survival benefit from increasing resections in low resection rate groups. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Surgical Associates Ltd.

Objective: This study aimed to explore a possible relationship between preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) and overall survival in a national cohort of Swedish patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Background: PBD has been shown to increase postoperative complications after PD, but its use is steadily increasing. There are a few small studies that have indicated that PBD might in itself negatively affect overall survival after PD. Methods: Patients from the Swedish National Registry for tumors in the pancreatic and periampullary region diagnosed from 2010 to 2019 who underwent PD for PDAC were included. Kaplan-Meier curves, log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazards analyses were performed to investigate survival. Results: Out of 15,818 patients in the registry, 3113 had undergone PD, of whom 1471 had a histopathological diagnosis of PDAC. Patients who had undergone PBD had significantly worse survival, but the effect of PBD disappeared in the multivariable analysis when elevated bilirubin at any time was included. Conclusions: PBD does not independently influence survival after PD for PDAC, but this study implies that even a nominally increased preoperative bilirubin level might impair long-term survival.

Background The prevalence of incidental gallbladder cancer is low when performing cholecystectomy for benign disease. The performance of routine or selective histological examination of the gallbladder is still a subject for discussion. The aim of this study was to assess the cost‐effectiveness of these different approaches. Methods Four management strategies were evaluated using decision‐analytical modelling: no histology, current selective histology as practised in Sweden, macroscopic selective histology, and routine histology. Healthcare costs and life‐years were estimated for a lifetime perspective and combined into incremental cost‐effectiveness ratios (ICERs) to assess the additional cost of achieving an additional life‐year for each management strategy. Results In the analysis of the four strategies, current selective histology was ruled out due to a higher ICER compared with macroscopic selective histology, which showed better health outcomes (extended dominance). Comparison of routine histology with macroscopic selective histology resulted in a gain of 12 life‐years and an incremental healthcare cost of approximately €1 000 000 in a cohort of 10 000 patients, yielding an estimated ICER of €76 508. When comparing a macroscopic selective strategy with no histological assessment, 50 life‐years would be saved and the ICER was estimated to be €20 708 in a cohort of 10 000 patients undergoing cholecystectomy. Conclusion A macroscopic selective strategy appears to be the most cost‐effective approach., The objective of this study was to assess the cost‐effectiveness of routine and selective gallbladder histopathology when performing cholecystectomy for benign disease. The most important factor for cost‐effectiveness was found to be the cost and number of histological analyses, due to large numbers of cholecystectomies relative to low prevalence of incidental gallbladder cancer. The model indicated that the macroscopic selective strategy was the most beneficial. longer placements improve outcomes