Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2024; 16(10): 4166-4176
Published online Oct 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i10.4166
Nationwide questionnaire survey on pediatric pancreatic tumors in Japan
Satoshi Makita, Hiroo Uchida, Motohiro Kano, Naonori Kawakubo, Hiromu Miyake, Akihiro Yoneda, Tatsuro Tajiri, Koji Fukumoto
Satoshi Makita, Hiroo Uchida, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan
Motohiro Kano, Akihiro Yoneda, Department of Pediatric Surgery, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo 157-8535, Japan
Naonori Kawakubo, Tatsuro Tajiri, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
Hiromu Miyake, Koji Fukumoto, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Shizuoka Children’s Hospital, Shizuoka 420-8660, Japan
Author contributions: Makita S and Uchida H designed the study; Kano M, Kawakubo N, Miyake H, Yoneda A, Tajiri T, and Fukumoto K collected the data; Makita S analyzed data and wrote the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Nagoya University (2022-0048) and the Academic Survey and Advanced Medical Science Committee of the Japanese Society of Pediatric Surgeons.
Informed consent statement: Individual consent for this analysis was waived. Patients in the database were identified by patient number only, and patient information was kept confidential according to the Institutional Review Board protocol.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Satoshi Makita, MD, PhD, Lecturer, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. sat-mkt@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Received: May 27, 2024
Revised: August 23, 2024
Accepted: September 6, 2024
Published online: October 15, 2024
Processing time: 121 Days and 16.3 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Pediatric pancreatic tumors are rare and account for < 0.1% of all childhood cancers. The primary treatment for pancreatic tumors is surgical resection. However, because of the lack of knowledge regarding pediatric pancreatic tumors, no comprehensive treatment plans for pediatric pancreatic tumors have been developed.

AIM

To compared the clinical features, treatment methods, and prognosis of pediatric pancreatic tumors in Japan with those in other countries.

METHODS

Questionnaires were sent to 213 pediatric surgical units in Japan. Pancreatic tumors that were not surgically treated were excluded from the survey. The primary survey investigated the number of patients aged 0-18 years who underwent pancreatic tumor surgery and the type of tumors managed during the 22-year study period (from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2021) by post card. The secondary survey assessed the clinical images, treatment methods, and tumor outcomes via email.

RESULTS

The primary survey enrolled 228 patients. In the secondary survey, 213 patients were eventually enrolled. The most common type of pancreatic tumor was solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) [n = 164 (77.0%)], followed by pancreatoblastoma [n = 16 (7.5%)], pancreatic endocrine tumor [n = 14 (6.6%)], non-epithelial tumor [n = 9 (4.2%)], pancreatic tumor [n = 7 (3.3%)], and metastatic pancreatic tumor [n = 3 (1.4%)]. Overall, 123 (57.7%) patients underwent distal pancreatectomy, of whom 49 underwent laparoscopic surgery. Forty-four (20.7%) patients underwent enucleation, of whom eight underwent laparoscopic surgery. Thirty-two (15.0%) patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, of whom one underwent laparoscopic surgery. All patients with SPN, including those with distant metastases and recurrent disease, survived.

CONCLUSION

SPN was more common in Japan than in other countries. Regardless of the histological type, resection is the most effective treatment for pediatric pancreatic tumors.

Keywords: Pancreatic tumors; Pediatric; Nationwide survey; Solid pseudopapillary tumors; Pancreatoblastoma

Core Tip: Pediatric pancreatic tumors are rare. This study compared the clinical images, treatment methods, and prognosis of pediatric pancreatic tumors in Japan with those in other countries. The primary survey investigated the number of patients aged 0-18 years who underwent pancreatic tumor surgery and the types of tumors managed during the 22-year study period (from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2021). The secondary survey assessed the clinical images, treatment methods, and tumor outcomes. In the secondary survey, 213 patients were eventually enrolled. Surgical resection is the main treatment for all histological types of pediatric pancreatic tumors.