Background: We analyzed the clinical characteristics and patterns of recurrence of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) from 100 consecutive surgical cases.
Methods: The average age was 62 +/- 12 years. The tumor was located in the head in 65 patients, body in 25 patients, and tail in 10 patients. Sixty-seven patients had benign IPMNs, and 33 patients had malignant IPMNs. Malignant IPMNs were observed more frequently in the head (42%) as compared with the body (20%) or tail (10%) (P < .05). During the follow-up period, 5 patients recurred and underwent second operation. In the first operation, 1 patient underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for the head tumor and the other 4 patients underwent distal pancreatectomy for the body and/or tail tumor.
Results: Although histopathologic findings in the first operation were adenoma in 2 and carcinoma in 3 patients, all patients developed carcinoma by the time of the second operation. No hyperplasia developed recurrence. The overall recurrence rate for the head tumors was 1.5% (1 out of 65), whereas that for the body and tail tumors was 11.4% (4 out of 35) (P < .05). Metachronous multicentric recurrence was suspected in 4 cases.
Conclusions: These results indicate that adenomatous or carcinomatous IPMNs, especially originated from the body or tail, should be carefully observed even with a histologically negative surgical margin.