Pancreaticoduodenectomy: The Johns Hopkins experience

Some 60 years after Whipple popularized pancreaticoduodenectomy for carcinoma of the head of the pancreas, we have finally learned how to do the operation safely. When it is done before lymph node spread, the operative procedure can substantially prolong survival. The task for the immediate future is to identify a solid tumor marker that will facilitate earlier diagnosis of this disease at a stage prior to lymph node spread. In addition, adjuvant therapy which has clearly been shown to be effective, needs to be improved. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.