Radical antegrade modular pancreatosplenectomy versus conventional distal pancreatosplenectomy for pancreatic cancer – The multicentre, randomised, controlled RAMPS-Trial

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Felix Hüttner; Dr. Frank Pianka
• Subject Area: General and Visceral Surgery
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 471314494

Pancreatic cancer still has a dismal prognosis despite all medical advances in recent years. One reason is that most tumors are diagnosed in an advanced stage and another reason is the close anatomical relationship to the visceral blood vessels. Thus, a radical tumor resection with a safety margin is frequently not possible and a considerable amount of cases results in a so called R1-resection (i.e. tumor cells reach <1mm to the resection margin microscopically). However, a complete tumor resection is one of the most important prognostic factors for long-term survival. For tumours in the body and tail of the pancreas, a technical modification of conventional distal pancreatosplenectomy, the so-called radical antegrade modular pancreatosplenectomy (RAMPS) has been developed to improve negative margin frequency, to assure a sufficient extent of lymphadenectomy and to achieve early vascular control. The primary objective of the proposed trial is to demonstrate that the RAMPS technique results in an increased rate of complete tumor resection (so called R0-resections). If superiority regarding this endpoint can be demonstrated, quality of life will be tested for non-inferiority and disease-free survival for superiority in a hierarchical apporach.

• DFG Programme: Clinical Trials
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Markus K. Diener; Privatdozentin Dr. Rosa Klotz