Pancreatic cancer in adults: diagnosis and management

Recommendation ID: NG85/3
Question: Minimally invasive pancreatectomy:- Prospective randomised trials should be undertaken to compare the effectiveness of minimally invasive pancreatectomy or pancreatoduodenectomy (laparoscopic or robotic) with open pancreatectomy or pancreatoduodenectomy in people with pancreatic cancer.
Any explanatory notes (if applicable): Why this is important:- Minimally invasive surgery is generally considered to be more acceptable to patients than open surgery. It has been introduced successfully for several other types of cancer and has been shown to improve quality of life. However, there is not enough evidence to determine whether minimally invasive surgery improves morbidity and mortality for people with pancreatic cancer, compared with open surgery. Prospective randomised trials are therefore needed in this area. The outcomes of interest are:
- conversion rate to open surgery
- R0 resection rate
- lymph node yield
- blood loss
- duration of surgery
- complications
- need for critical care
- length of hospital stay
- time to return to normal activity
- mortality of surgery
- long-term survival after surgery
- quality of life, patient experience and patient-reported outcome measures.

Source guidance details

Is this a recommendation for the use of a technology only in the context of research?	No
Is it a recommendation that suggests collection of data or the establishment of a register?	No
Last Reviewed	28/02/2018