METHODS: Patients with mild to moderate ABP were prospectively randomized to either an early cholecystectomy versus a delayed cholecystectomy group. Recurrent biliary events, peri-operative complications, conversion rate, length of surgery and total hospital length of stay between the two groups were evaluated.
RESULTS: A total of 72 patients were enrolled at a single public hospital. Of them, 38 were randomized to the early group and 34 patients to the delayed group. There were no differences regarding peri-operative complications (7.78% vs 11.76%; p = 0.700), conversion rate to open surgery (10.53% vs 11.76%; p = 1.000) and duration of surgery performed (80 vs 85 minutes, p = 0.752). Nevertheless, a greater rate of recurrent biliary events was found in the delayed group (44.12% vs 0%; p ≤ 0.0001) and the hospital length of stay was longer in the delayed group (9 vs 8 days, p = 0.002).
CONCLUSION: In mild to moderate ABP, early laparoscopic cholecystectomy reduces the risk of recurrent biliary events without an increase in operative difficulty or perioperative morbidity.
Methods: A 69-year-old lady presented with obstructive jaundice, abdominal discomfort and associated constitutional symptoms. She was investigated and found to have obstructive jaundice with normal tumor marker assays. An endoscopic ultrasound was done followed by a needle biopsy which confirmed a pancreatic head angiosarcoma followed by an ERCP and a stent placement. A CT abdomen done revealed a pancreatic head and uncinate tumor with a stent in the common bile duct.
Results: Patient underwent a pylorus preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy with an uneventful post-operative recovery. She defaulted her oncology appointments and was followed up with serial imaging. She developed a local recurrence 18 months after surgery and succumbed to her disease after 3 years.
Conclusions: Pancreatic angiosarcoma is an aggressive tumor compared to other pancreatic malignancies. For a definite diagnosis of angiosarcoma, histopathologic and immunohistochemical analysis are necessary. Surgical resection offers the only possible cure, while oncological treatment has variable outcome. Currently, there are no treatment protocols available due to the small number of cases present in literature.