ObjectiveTo compare surgical safety and postoperative efficacy of total mesopancreas excision (TMpE) with pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and standard PD (Whipple).MethodsA total of 123 patients underwent PD in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from August 2013 to December 2017 were included, including 47 patients with pancreatic head carcinoma and 76 patients with periampullary carcinoma, then were divided into a TMpE group and a Whipple group respectively. The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospitalization time, postoperative recovery time of gastrointestinal function, postoperative complications, and postoperative survival of patients with the same site between the Whipple group and the TMpE group were retrospectively compared.Results① There were no significant differences in the baseline data between the TMpE group and the Whipple group in the pancreatic head carcinoma and periampullary carcinoma (P>0.05). ② For the patients with pancreatic head carcinoma, there were no significant differences in the operative time, postoperative hospitalization time, and postoperative gastrointestinal function recovery time between the TMpE group and the Whipple group (P>0.05), but the intraoperative blood loss in the TMpE group was significantly higher than that in the Whipple group (P=0.038); For the patients with periampullary carcinoma, the above indexes had no significant differences between the TMpE group and the Whipple group (P>0.05). ③ The total incidence of complications in the TMpE group was significantly higher than that in the Whipple group for the patients with pancreatic head carcinoma (χ2=6.595, P=0.010), which had no significant difference between the TMpE group and the Whipple group for the patients with periampullary carcinoma (P>0.05). ④ The cumulative survival curve in the TMpE group was better than that in the Whipple group for the patients with pancreatic head carcinoma (χ2=9.597, P=0.002), which had no significant difference between the TMpE group and the Whipple group for the patients with periampullary carcinoma (χ2=0.844, P=0.358).ConclusionsFor patients with pancreatic head cancer, comparing with standard Whipple, although TMpE PD increases intraoperative blood loss and overall incidence of complications, it could significantly improve long-term survival and there are no significant differences in postoperative recovery time and operative safety between Whipple and TMpE; For patients with periampullary carcinoma, there are no significant differences in surgical safety, long-term survival rate, and survival time between TMpE and Whipple.