Endoscopic papillectomy for ampullary adenoma and early adenocarcinoma: Analysis of factors related to treatment outcome and long‐term prognosis

Objectives There are few reports on the long‐term prognosis of papillary tumors after endoscopic papillectomy. Here, we report a retrospective study of the therapeutic effects, long‐term prognosis, and affecting factors. Methods The inclusion criteria were papillary adenoma with/without an adenocarcinoma component on biopsy results and ≤10 mm intraductal extension, and the exclusion criteria were moderate to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma on biopsy results. If no residual lesion was confirmed ≥6 months after the last endoscopic treatment, remission was defined. Subsequently, follow‐up endoscopy was scheduled once a year. Surgery was required in the case of adenocarcinoma recurrence or intraductal lesions >10 mm. The rates of adverse events, remission, recurrence, and need for surgery were examined. The affecting factors were calculated. Results There were a total of 253 subjects, including 65 with adenocarcinoma. Pancreatitis (7.5%), bleeding (9.1%) and perforation (2.8%) were observed as adverse events. Among 221 subjects with ≥6 months of follow‐up, 212 (95.9%) were in remission. The cumulative recurrence rate using the Kaplan–Meier analysis at 5 years was 16.9% (22 cases), with the need for surgery in 5.9% (5 cases). Intraductal extension on preoperative diagnosis was the only significant risk factor for both recurrence ( P < 0.001) and the need for surgery ( P = 0.005). The presence of adenocarcinoma had no significant effect. Conclusion Although remission was achieved in more than 95% of our patients, we observed a high rate of recurrence at the long‐term follow‐up, which was significantly associated with intraductal extension but not with the presence of adenocarcinoma.