Background: Laparoscopic resection of benign tumors of the pancreas has been reported in adults, but only four cases of partial laparoscopic pancreatectomy in children have been described in the English-language literature.
Methods: We describe the case of an 11-year-old girl with a solid pseudopapillary tumor who was treated with a laparoscopic, spleen-preserving, distal pancreatectomy. The specimen was extracted in an endoscopic bag retrieval system through a Pfannenstiel incision. Operative time was 120 minutes, and minimal blood loss occurred. The literature is reviewed.
Results: The postoperative course was uneventful. Twenty-two months after the operation, clinical follow-up (including assessment of exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function) revealed nothing abnormal. The functional and aesthetic results were satisfactory.
Conclusions: The technique used for our case is simple and reproducible, was completed safely within a reasonable operative time, and yielded a good result.