Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:This study aimed to determine the rate, timing, and predictors of diabetes and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency after pancreatectomy in order to inform preoperative patient counseling and risk management strategies. METHODS:Using prescription claims as a surrogate for disease prevalence, IBM Watson Health MarketScan was queried for claims patterns pre- and post-pancreatectomy. Multivariable models explored associations between clinical characteristics and medication use within 2 years of surgery. RESULTS:In total, 18.96% of 2,848 pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) patients and 18.95% of 1,858 distal pancreatectomy (DP) patients had preoperative diabetic medication prescription claims. Fewer (6.6% and 3.88%, respectively) had pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) claims. Diabetic medication claims increased to 28.69% after PD and 38.59% after DP [adjusted relative risk (aRR) = 1.36 (95% CI 1.27, 1.46)]. Other associated factors included age > 45, medical comorbidity, and obesity. The incidence of new diabetic medication claims among medication naïve patients was 13.78% for PD and 24.7% for DP (p < 0.001) with a median 4.7 and 4.9 months post-operatively. The prevalence of PERT claims was 55.97% after PD and 17.06% after DP [aRR = 0.32 (0.29, 0.36)]. The incidence of postoperative PERT claims 53.98% (PD) and 14.84% (DP) (p < 0.0001). The median time to new PERT claim was 3.0 (PD) and 3.2 (DP) months, respectively. Claims for both diabetic medications and PERT rose sharply after surgery and plateaued within 6 months. CONCLUSIONS:This study defines prevalence, timing, and predictors for post-pancreatectomy insufficiency to inform preoperative counseling, risk modification strategies, and interventions related to quality of life.

BACKGROUND & AIMS:There is substantial interest in liquid biopsy approaches for cancer early detection among subjects at risk, using multi-marker panels. CA19-9 is an established circulating biomarker for pancreatic cancer; however, its relevance for pancreatic cancer early detection or for monitoring subjects at risk has not been established. METHODS:CA19-9 levels were assessed in blinded sera from 175 subjects collected up to 5 years before diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and from 875 matched controls from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. For comparison of performance, CA19-9 was assayed in blinded independent sets of samples collected at diagnosis from 129 subjects with resectable pancreatic cancer and 275 controls (100 healthy subjects; 50 with chronic pancreatitis; and 125 with noncancerous pancreatic cysts). The complementary value of 2 additional protein markers, TIMP1 and LRG1, was determined. RESULTS:In the PLCO cohort, levels of CA19-9 increased exponentially starting at 2 years before diagnosis with sensitivities reaching 60% at 99% specificity within 0 to 6 months before diagnosis for all cases and 50% at 99% specificity for cases diagnosed with early-stage disease. Performance was comparable for distinguishing newly diagnosed cases with resectable pancreatic cancer from healthy controls (64% sensitivity at 99% specificity). Comparison of resectable pancreatic cancer cases to subjects with chronic pancreatitis yielded 46% sensitivity at 99% specificity and for subjects with noncancerous cysts, 30% sensitivity at 99% specificity. For prediagnostic cases below cutoff value for CA19-9, the combination with LRG1 and TIMP1 yielded an increment of 13.2% in sensitivity at 99% specificity (P = .031) in identifying cases diagnosed within 1 year of blood collection. CONCLUSION:CA19-9 can serve as an anchor marker for pancreatic cancer early detection applications.

OBJECTIVE:To examine the rate of new and persistent opioid use after endocrine surgery operations. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA:A global epidemic of opioid misuse and abuse has been evolving over the past 2 decades with opioid use among surgical patients being a particularly difficult problem. Minimal data exists regarding opioid misuse after endocrine surgical operations. METHODS:A retrospective cohort study using the MarketScan identified adult patients who underwent thyroidectomy, parathyroidectomy, neck dissections for thyroid malignancy, and adrenalectomy from 2008 to 2017. Persistent opioid use was defined as receipt of ≥1 opioid prescription 90-180 days postop with no intervening procedures or anesthesia. Multivariable models were used to examine associations between clinical characteristics and any use and new persistent use of opioids. RESULTS:A total of 259,115 patients were identified; 54.6% of opioid naïve patients received a perioperative opioid prescription. Fulfillment of this prescription was associated with malignant disease, greater extent of surgery, younger age, residence outside of the Northeast, and history of depression or substance abuse. The rate of new persistent opioid use was 7.4%. A lateral neck dissection conferred the highest risk for persistent opioid use (P < 0.01). Persistent opioid use was also associated with older age, Medicaid coverage, residency outside of the Northeast, increased medical co-morbidities, a history of depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, and chronic pain (all P < 0.01). Importantly, the risk for persistent opioid use increased with higher doses of total amount of opioids prescribed. CONCLUSIONS:The rate of new, persistent opioid use after endocrine surgery operations is substantial but may be mitigated by decreasing the number of postoperative opioids prescribed.

BACKGROUND:Discussing the impact of pancreatic surgery on long-term health is poorly understood, but necessary for informed consent. Given the increased number of pancreatic operations being performed annually, further investigation is necessary. METHODS:Patients surviving longer than 5 years after pancreatic surgery were surveyed for postoperative hospitalizations, operations, pain, nutrition and diabetes. Variables were analyzed according to patient and peri-operative variables, and validated using medical records. RESULTS:Eighty individuals completed the survey; median follow-up was 9.5 years (IQR:6.43,12.73). 47.5% underwent a pancreatoduodenectomy, and 25.0% a distal pancreatectomy; 40.0% had adenocarcinoma. 57.1% reported long-term weight loss, of which 65.9% was unintentional. While 1.3% took pancreatic enzymes before surgery, 38.8% utilized after. 12.5% had diabetes before, and 28.6% after surgery; 22 of 30 patients required insulin replacement therapy (73.3%). 41.3% reported hospitalizations, 17.5% required endoscopies and 28.8% additional operations after full recovery. Need for additional interventions were not related to pathology or post-operative complications, but were more common among patients undergoing a Whipple. CONCLUSION:More than half of patients will have a long-term medical complication attributable to pancreatectomy. In comparison to the literature, it may be inferred that consequences occur within the first few years after surgery, and do not compound over time.

BACKGROUND:Pancreatogenic diabetes is common after pancreatectomy, and the impact on quality of life (QOL) is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to investigate QOL between diabetic and non-diabetic patients at least five years after pancreatectomy. METHODS:Patients were recruited from a prospectively maintained institutional database. Participants were administered the Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life (ADDQOL). Quality of life was compared between diabetics and non-diabetics using validated European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer questionnaires. RESULTS:80 individuals completed surveys. 55% were female, 80% non-Hispanic white, 44% underwent Whipple, 48% were cystic neoplasms and 39% were adenocarcinoma. Diabetic patients (42.5%) reported comparable EORTC QLQ-C30 and Pan26 scores to non-diabetic patients. Pre-operative diabetic patients reported more dyspnea (p = 0.02) and greater pain (p = 0.02) than new-onset diabetics. Diabetic patients reported an overall ADDQOL quality of life score 'very good' (IQR: excellent, good) though felt life would be much better without diabetes (IQR: very much better, little better). While operation type was not influential, patients diagnosed with cystic neoplasms were almost twice as likely as those with other pathologies to report that life would be much better without diabetes (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:At a median of 9.3 years from pancreatic surgery, ADDQoL scores of patients were similar to cohorts of non-pancreatogenic diabetics in the general population. Patients without cancer were more likely to report that diabetes affected their overall QOL, regardless of operation. This study provides nuanced understanding of long-term QOL to improve the informed consent process and post-operative long-term care.

Locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) constitutes approximately one-third of all pancreatic cancer, with standard of care inconsistently defined and achieving modest outcomes at best. While resection after downstaging offers the chance for cure, only a fraction of patients with LAPC become candidates for resection. Chemotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment for the remainder. In these patients, ablative therapy may be given for local control of the tumor. Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is an attractive ablative technique. IRE changes the permeability of tumor cell membranes to induce apoptosis. Unlike other ablative therapies, IRE causes little thermal injury to the target area, making it ideal for LAPC involving major vessels. Compared to systemic chemotherapy alone, IRE seems to offer some survival benefit. Although early studies reported notable morbidity and mortality rates, IRE presents opportunities for those who cannot undergo resection and who otherwise have limited options. Another role of IRE is to extend the margins of resected tumors when there is a concern for R1 resection. Perhaps most exciting, IRE is thought to have effects beyond local ablation. IRE has immunomodulatory effects, which may induce in vivo vaccination and may potentially synergize with immunotherapy. Through electrochemotherapy, IRE may enhance drug delivery to residual tumor cells. Ultimately the role of IRE in the treatment of LAPC still needs to be validated through well designed randomized trials. Investigations of its future possibilities are in the early stages. IRE offers the potential to provide more options to LAPC patients.

BACKGROUND:While the frequency of pancreatic operations are increasing, understanding quality of life is still insufficient. The aim was to evaluate global health and quality of life of long-term survivors from a range of pancreatic operations using internationally validated instruments. METHODS:Patients surviving longer than 5 years after pancreatic operations were surveyed using the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Cancer-30 and Pancreatic Cancer-26 modules. Variables were analyzed according to demographic and clinical features. RESULTS:Eighty patients completed questionnaires. The median follow-up was 9.3 years from the time of operation. The mean scores of global health status/quality of life, physical function, role function, emotional function, cognitive function, and social functioning were 73.9, 83.7, 84.6, 81.1, 80.2, and 86.3, respectively. The participants' reported quality of life was comparable or better than the general United States population. The summary score, which was defined as weighted average of function and symptom scores (excluding global health status/quality of life and financial impact scores), showed significant differences according to the level of education (70.1 no college vs 85.2 college and 85.7 grad school, P = .049), operation type (79.9 pancreatoduodenectomy vs 91.1 total, P = .043), additional endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (77.3 vs 86.0, P = .029), and additional abdominal operations related to the primary operation (79.0 vs 86.6, P = .026). CONCLUSION:Long-term survivors of pancreatectomy had comparable or better global health status/quality of life, function scale, and lower symptom scores than the general population of the United States, though persistent gastrointestinal symptoms are common. These findings should help inform patients of the long-term consequences of pancreatectomy, so they can make better decisions especially when considering prophylactic operations.

Pancreatic surgery has been one of the last areas for the application of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) because there are many factors that make laparoscopic pancreas resections difficult. The concept of service centralization has also limited expertise to a small cadre of high-volume centres in resource rich countries. However, this is not the environment that many surgeons in developing countries work in. These patients often do not have the opportunity to travel to high volume centres for care. Therefore, we sought to review the existing data on MIS for the pancreas and to discuss. In this paper, we review the evolution of MIS on the pancreas and discuss the incorporation of this service into low-volume and resource-poor countries, such as those in the Caribbean. This paper has two parts. First, we performed a literature review evaluating all studies published on laparoscopic and robotic surgery of the pancreas. The data in the Caribbean is examined and we discuss tips for incorporating this operation into resource poor hospital practice. Low pancreatic case volume in the Caribbean, and financial barriers to MIS in general, laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy, enucleation and cystogastrostomy are feasible operations to integrate in to a resource-limited healthcare environment. This is because they can be performed with minimal to no consumables and require an intermediate MIS skillset to complement an open pancreatic surgeon's peri-operative experience.

The Chicago Consensus Working Group provides the following multidisciplinary recommendations for the care of patients with peritoneal surface malignancies. This article focuses on the standards of a peritoneal surface malignancy center, standards of billing and coding, standards of operative reports for cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, standards of cytoreductive surgery training, and standards of intraoperative chemotherapy preparation. These guidelines are developed with input from leading experts, including surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, palliative care physicians, and pharmacists. These guidelines recognize and address the emerging need for increased awareness in the appropriate management of peritoneal surface disease. They are not intended to replace the quest for higher levels of evidence.

The Chicago Consensus Working Group provides multidisciplinary recommendations for the management of colorectal cancer specifically as it relates to the management of peritoneal surface malignancy. These guidelines are developed with input from leading experts, including surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, palliative care physicians, and pharmacists. These guidelines recognize and address the emerging need for increased awareness in the appropriate management of peritoneal surface disease. They are not intended to replace the quest for higher levels of evidence.