Radical antegrade modular pancreatosplenectomy (RAMPS) versus conventional distal pancreatosplenectomy (CDPS) for left-sided pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Purpose The insufficient clearance of regional lymph nodes and unsatisfactory R0 resection rate may result in the metastasis of left-sided pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) after conventional distal pancreatosplenectomy (CDPS). Radical antegrade modular pancreatosplenectomy (RAMPS) was designed to achieve R0 resection more successfully with better lymph-node clearance; however, there is still insufficient evidence of its short- and long-term results to confirm its superiority. We conducted this study to compare the efficiency of these two procedures. Methods The subjects of this retrospective analysis were 103 patients with left-sided PDAC who underwent either RAMPS ( n = 46) or CDPS ( n = 57). We assessed perioperative data and surgical information and used univariate and multivariate analyses to identify prognostic factors for survival. Results There were no significant differences in baseline data between the groups. RAMPS was associated with a significantly shorter hospital stay (12.11 days vs. 22.98 days; P