At the time of evaluation, all procedures were conducted with curative intent. Only adenocarcinomas originating from the ampulla of Vater were included, excluding those found

to have bile duct, pancreas, and duodenal primaries. Patients who underwent radical resection or were found to have metastatic disease were also excluded from the study. Surgery All patients underwent open ampullectomy using a technique as described in detail by Clary et al. (10). Briefly, following exploration through a subcostal or midline incision, a Kocher maneuver was performed. The ampullary mass was palpated through the duodenal wall and a lateral duodenotomy performed opposite Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the site of the mass. The ampulla was identified following stay suture placement on the duodenal wall, and subsequently circumferential resection of the duodenal mucosa and mass performed. All surgical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical specimens were staged based on the American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th edition staging manual. add to favorites pathology data pertaining Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to tumor grade, T staging, and surgical margin status were collected and reviewed at Duke University Hospital. For patients whose original

pathology report did not note the grade or T stage, specimens were reassessed for the purposes of this study. Two patients were determined to have clinical T3 disease based on pancreatic involvement seen on CT scan and endoscopic ultrasound, respectively. Chemoradiotherapy The decision to deliver adjuvant therapy was based on surgical margins, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical T and N stage, grade, and presence of lymphovascular invasion. All patients found to have involved surgical margins were offered adjuvant therapy. Multifield external beam radiation therapy was used to target the tumor bed and local-regional

lymph node basins, which include celiac, porta hepatis, superior mesenteric artery, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and pancreaticoduodenal nodes. Patients received 5 treatments per week at 1.8-2 Gy per fraction to a total dose of 45.0-50.4 Gy. Field arrangements were primarily antero-posterior/postero-anterior in addition to opposed lateral fields. Patients underwent 3-dimensional treatment planning starting in 1997. The use of adjuvant chemotherapy was GSK-3 determined by the patients’ medical oncologist. All patients who received chemotherapy received fluoropyrimidine-based treatment concurrent with radiation therapy. Statistical analysis The goal of this study was to assess local control (LC), selleck catalog disease-free survival (DFS), metastasis-free survival (MFS) and overall survival (OS) rates following local resection. Failure patterns were analyzed during clinical follow-ups, using radiological imaging, biopsy, and endoscopy. Disease recurrence in the tumor bed or local-regional lymph nodes (celiac, pancreaticoduodenal, superior mesenteric artery basins, and porta hepatis) were defined as local failures.