Predictors of early recurrence following a curative resection in patients with a carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater

Purpose: Ampulla of Vater (AoV) carcinoma has a relatively good prognosis. The 5-year recurrence rate for AoV is still around 40%-50% however, and most recurrences occur in the early period. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of an early recurrence in AoV patients following a curative resection.

Methods: The clinicopathological data for 501 consecutive patients that underwent a resection for AoV in our institute between January 2000 and December 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. The characteristics of any recurrences and early recurrence patients were analyzed accordingly. Early recurrence was defined as occurring within one year of resection.

Results: There were 170 diagnosed recurrences in our study population, 57.1% of whom were men, with a mean age of 60.1 years (range, 30-94 years). Almost all of the study patients underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy, and 9% underwent minimally invasive surgery. Of the 170 recurrent cases, 107 were diagnosed with an early recurrence and had 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates of 77.7%, 18.4%, 10.5%, respectively. The factors that significantly influenced early recurrences, determined by multivariate analysis, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), lymph node ratio (LNR), and poor differentiation were found to be independent determinants of a recurrence within 1 year.

Conclusion: An early recurrence in AoV patients is ultimately lethal even though this cancer has a good prognosis. LVI, LNR, and poor differentiation are powerful predictors of an early recurrence in AoV. Hence, intensive surveillance and new therapeutic strategies should be considered for AoV patients with these predictors following a curative resection.