A Prospective Clinical Study of the Safety and Efficacy of Robot-assisted Pancreaticoduodenectomy Using an Artery-first Intermediate Approach

Firstly, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, all patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of South China who were to undergo robot-assisted pancreaticoduodenectomy were randomized into two groups, namely the standard approach group and the intermediate approach group. The two groups were under the management of the same surgical team throughout the perioperative period, and were managed according to standardized Enhanced recovery after surgery approach. The brief procedure includes: (1) Placement of the trocar in appropriate place; (2) An ultrasonic knife was used to cut the appetizing colonic ligament and expose the pancreas. The superior mesenteric vein, common hepatic artery, proper hepatic artery and gastroduodenal artery were exposed, and the adjacent lymph nodes were dissected. The right gastric artery and gastroduodenal artery were resected to expose the portal vein. Dissect the common bile duct and peel the gallbladder from the bile fossa; The free common bile duct was dissected and suspended with a vascular sling. (3) Resection of distal stomach and jejunum. The pancreas was cut off with ultrasonic knife. (4) Child reconstruction - pancreaticojejunostomy (pancreatic duct to jejunal mucosa anastomosis) , cholangiojejunostomy and gastrojejunostomy were adopted. (5) Thoroughly rinse the abdominal cavity and place the abdominal drainage tube properly after checking for no active bleeding.The key point of surgery in the standard approach group was to first reveal portal vein-superior mesenteric vein and gradually complete the resection of the uncinate process of pancreas based on the reference of portal vein-superior mesenteric vein. In the intermediate approach group, the area between superior mesenteric vein and superior mesenteric artery was defined as the intermediate area and dissection was performed in this area to achieve the removal of the uncinate process of pancreas. Subsequently, data related to intraoperative conditions (such as operation time, amount of blood loss, etc.) and postoperative complications were collected and statistically analyzed to verify the safety of the intermediate approach, and short-term prognostic data was collected to verify its effectiveness.