BECAUSE of the similarity of symptoms, diagnosis and problems of treatment, carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater and head of the pancreas near the common bile duct can be conveniently grouped together. Patients with proved tumors of this type admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospital, Hines, Ill., for the six-year period from 1945 through 1951, form the basis of this study. Primarily the purpose of the study is to evaluate methods of treatment and to correlate symptoms, signs, laboratory data, surgical findings and procedures, and survival times. Surgical technique has been presented in a recent publication by one of us (C. B. P.).28
In this group are 48 proved cases. Eleven patients with carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater and 37 with carcinoma of the head of the pancreas are included. Of the total number, 9 received initial care at other hospitals and subsequent care at Hines; 39 received