Background: Surgery is the only potentially curative therapeutic approach in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC); however, achieving a negative (R0) resection margin is not always possible.
Objective: The impact of R1 resection margins on survival rates and treatment options (surgical and multimodal) for intraoperatively and postoperatively identified R1 resection margins.
Results: For intraoperatively diagnosed R1 resection margins, a re-resection (e.g. pancreas, main bile duct, stomach, superior mesenteric and portal vein) can be performed to achieve R0 resection margins. Arterial resections and the resection of additional organs are occasionally technically feasible and can be performed in an individual approach. New neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment strategies have increased the rate of resectable PDAC and have improved the outcome of patients with R0/R1 resected PDACs.
Conclusion: An R0 resection is the primary goal of surgery in patients with PDAC as R1 resections are correlated with a poor outcome.
Keywords: Arterial vascular resection; Follow-up resection; Multimodal and surgical treatment; Standardized pathological examination; Survival.