The learning curve in pancreatic surgery

Pancreatic operation is technically complex. We hypothesized that a learning curve existed for pancreaticoduodenectomy even for surgeons who had completed their training.During 1990 to 2004, we studied 650 consecutive patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy by 3 surgeons who began their attending careers at 1 center. Operative time, estimated blood loss (EBL), length of hospital stay (LOS), and the status of resection margins (for...