Peroperative Assessment of Tumour Resection Margins Using High-resolution 18F-FDG-PET/CT in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

One of the main risks for recurrence in patients with pancreatic cancer is incomplete surgery of the primary tumor. During the operation, the surgeon bases himself for this on imaging and peroperative vision. Unfortunately, this is not always sufficient and it is sometimes determined after surgery that the cutting edges are not free of tumor cells. Research has already shown that there is a significantly better survival when a margin of at least 1 mm is maintained between the macroscopic tumor and the cut surface. It is therefore important to remove the tumor as completely as possible without the risk of residual tissue and with a sufficiently wide margin. The only method that can currently be used to determine during surgery if the tumor has been completely removed is to use "frozen sections". With a frozen section, the surgical piece is sent to the pathology department during the operation, where sections are taken from the edges. These are frozen in nitrogen and immediately viewed by a pathologist. If the cut edge is positive, this will be passed on to the surgeon who will take a wider resection if possible. Unfortunately, this method is time consuming and labor intensive. The evaluation of these cut edges on frozen section is not easy and requires a lot of experience. The percentage of false negative reviews for frozen section is not high, but it is true that it is not non-existent either. In addition, it is not possible to evaluate all cleavage surfaces peroperatively. This is currently happening for the distal pancreatic cutting edge and the bile duct cutting edge, but not, for example, for the posterior pancreatic surface and for the surface of the groove in which the superior mesenteric vein runs. The use of peroperative imaging in the form of 18F-FDG PET-CT scan of the tumor would be a clear asset for this. This would not only be faster than frozen sections, but also provide a full 3-dimensional image of the extracted specimen, which may provide more insi