Ex-vivo Resection and Small-Bowel Auto-transplantation for the Treatment of Tumors at the Root of the Mesentery

Background: Tumors involving the root of the mesentery are generally regarded as “unresectable” with conventional surgical techniques. Resection with conventional surgery may end in life-threatening complications in these patients. Ex-vivo resection and auto-transplantation avoids excessive bleeding and prevents ischemic related damage to the small intestine and other organs. Objective: To share our experience of ex-vivo resection of the tumors with involvement of small bowel mesentery followed by small bowel auto-transplantation. Methods: In this study, medical records of all the patients who underwent ex-vivo resection and auto-transplantation at our center were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The most common indication for the procedure in our series was locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma. Our survival rate was 50% with a mean±SD follow-up of 10.1±9.8 (range: 0–26) months. Causes of early in-hospital mortality were multi-organ failure, sepsis, and cerebrovascular accident. Recurrence of disease was noted in one patient while one patient developed hepatic metastasis after 20 months of surgery. Conclusion: Ex-vivo resection of the tumor and auto-transplantation is the surgical treatment of choice for the locally advanced abdominal tumors involving the root of the mesentery.