Fig. 2

Intraoperative findings. a At laparotomy, the tumor was found within the pancreatic body (dashed circle). No serosal or vascular invasion was present. On the tail side of the tumor, severe adhesion was observed between the pancreas and the stomach (arrowhead). b Frontal view of the pancreas after partial resection of the serosa of the stomach. The intraoperative frozen section examination confirmed the lack of any cancer cells on the detached surface (arrowhead). c The pancreas was divided at the left edge of the gastroduodenal artery (arrowhead). Distal pancreatectomy with radical lymphadenectomy and splenectomy was then completed