Portal homograft in pancreatic head cancer surgery: first experience

A clinical case of extended combined pancreatectomy with vein reconstruction using a portal homograft in a 54-year-old patient with locally advanced ductal adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas is presented. Following the patient’s surgery, no data were obtained to confirm vascular thrombosis, circulatory disturbances in the portal and superior mesenteric veins, or impaired blood supply to the liver. Mesenteric-portal venous reconstruction with a portal homograft did not result in any vascular reconstruction-related complications and allowed a R0 resection to be achieved. On the example of the given clinical case we demonstrated the possibility of performing extended combined resection in locally advanced pancreatic cancer with involvement of portal and superior mesenteric veins. The use of a portal vein homograft may be a promising alternative to current angioplasty methods (autoprostheses, synthetic prostheses, xenografts).