Background: We evaluated villous tumors of the duodenum in regard to preoperative diagnosis of malignancy and the choice of treatment.
Study design: From January 1974 to October 1992, forty-seven patients with a benign or malignant tumor arising from the duodenal mucosa were studied. Forty-two patients underwent a macroscopically complete resection of the tumor. Nineteen tumors were malignant.
Results: Preoperative endoscopic biopsy results had a 52 percent sensitivity and 100 percent specificity for the diagnosis of malignancy. For the 42 patients who underwent complete resection, jaundice was predictive of malignancy (p < 0.01), whereas tumor size was not (p < 0.2). The five-year survival rate of this group was 69.5 percent (confidence interval: 50 to 84). The recurrence rate was higher (p < 0.01) and the survival rate shorter (p < 0.001) for patients who underwent ampullectomy (n = 8) compared with patients treated by limited resection (n = 20) or pancreatoduodenectomy (n = 14).
Conclusions: Preoperative diagnosis of malignancy is difficult for villous tumors of the duodenum. For tumors located near the papilla, it seems that pancreatoduodenectomy is the best treatment.