Is routine drainage necessary after pancreaticoduodenectomy?

Table 2 Studies comparing selective routine drainage with selective no-drainage n (%)

Ref.	Patients	Drain	No drain	Pancreatic fistula			Complications			Possible reasons for drainage
				Drain	No drain	P value	Drain	No drain	P value
Heslin et al[74]	89	51	38	3 (6)	1 (3)	0.30	23 (45)	15 (39)	0.60	Anesthesia time
Lim et al[72]	54	27	27	6 (22)	0 (0)	0.009	13 (48)	6 (22)	0.09	Hard pancreas and dilated main pancreatic duct
Mehta et al[93]	709	251	458	61 (24)	48 (11)	< 0.0001	171 (68)	248 (54)	< 0.0001	Operation type and blood loss
Correa-Gallego et al[75]	739	386	353	104 (27)	59 (17)	0.001	NA	NA	NA	Bile duct diameter, blood loss, and operation time

NA: Not available.