POPF is the most common and feared complication after distal pancreatectomy (DP), increasing morbidity and mortality. Recent evidences suggest that POPF can also play a role in pancreatic cancer recurrence. Adult patients with a diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) of the body and tail of the pancreas, undergoing curative DP, over a ten-year period in twelve European Surgical Departments were retrospectively collected from a prospective implemented database. Cohort studied included 283 patients, 139 were men (49.1%), median age was 70 years-old (range 37-88). A total of 121 POPF were observed (42.8%), 42 of them (14.9%) were CR-POPF. Median follow-up period was 24 months (range 3-120). Although poorer in the POPF group, overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) did not differ significantly when comparing patients with and without CR-POPF (p= 0.224 and p= 0.165, respectively). CR-POPF was not significantly associated with local or peritoneal recurrence (p=0.559 and p=0.302, respectively). Less patients after POPF (76.2% versus 83.8%) benefited from adjuvant chemotherapy but the difference was not significant (p=0.228). CR-POPF is a major complication after DP, but it did affect neither the post-operative therapeutic path nor oncologic outcomes. CR-POPF was not a predictive factor for disease recurrence and it was not associated with an increased incidence of peritoneal or local relapse.
Clinically-relevant post-operative fistula is a major complication after DP, but it did not affect post-operative therapeutic path nor oncologic long-term outcomes. CR-POPF was not a predictive factor for disease recurrence and it was not associated with an increased incidence of peritoneal or local relapse.