Zhejiang University team begins a holistic approach to pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is becoming an increasingly common cause of cancer mortality. The survival rate of pancreatic cancer has long been dismal. Because symptoms and signs of pancreatic cancer are mostly nonspecific, early diagnosis remains a major challenge. Only 15% of all cases are deemed resectable at diagnosis, while the remaining are already at more advanced stages. For locally advanced pancreatic cancer, radical resection is usually impossible because of significant tumor infiltration and vascular invasion. Although the application of neoadjuvant therapy may downstage the tumor and make radical resection possible, the conversion rate is far from satisfactory.

In order to tackle this issue, Prof. LIANG Tingbo and his multidisciplinary team, from the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (FAHZU), have pioneered a holistic approach – radical resection combined with intestinal autotransplantation (RRCIA). In brief, the organ transplantation technique is integrated into the traditional surgical approach for pancreatic cancer. The RRCIA procedure is proven to be efficient in achieving an “en-bloc” and “non-touch” R0 resection for locally advanced pancreatic cancer with longitudinal encasement of SMA and SMV by Prof. LIANG’s team. The primary results indicate that the RRCIA procedure has significantly improved the R0 rate of locally advanced pancreatic cancer. More than forty cases of RRCIA have been performed successfully since 2018.




Recently, the book entitled “Radical Resection Combined with Intestinal Autotransplantation for Pancreatic Cancer” was published by the People’s Medical Publishing House. As the first book globally describing this novel RRCIA technique, it has drawn worldwide attention. And the primary results of the RRCIA procedure were recently published in the journal of Annals of Surgery.