Background Recent studies have revealed that the reason for the low surgical resection rate of pancreatic carcinoma partly lies in its biological behavior,which is characterized by neural infiltration.This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of radical pancreatOduodenectomy combined with retroperitoneal nerve,lymph,and soft-tissue dissection for carcinoma of the pancreatic head.Methods Forty-six patients with pancreatic head cancer were treated in our hospital from 1995 to 2005.The patients were divided into two groups:radical pancreatoduodenectomy combined with retroperitoneal nerve,lymph and soft-tissue dissection (group A,n=25) and routine Whipple's operation (group B,n=21).There were no significant differences between the two groups in relation to age,gender and preoperative risk factors,and perioperative conditions,pathological data and survival rates were studied.Results There were no significant differences in tumor size,surgical procedure time,postoperative complications,and time of hospitalization.However,the number and positive rate of resected lymph nodes in group A were significantly higher than those in group B (P＜0.05).The 1-and 3-year survival rate in group A were 80% and 53%,respectively,which was higher than those in group B (P＜0.05).There were significant differences in the survival rates between patients with and without nerve infiltration in group A (P＜0.05).Conclusions Radical pancreatoduodenectomy combined with retroperitoneal nerve,lymph and soft-tissue dissection,can effectiveoly remove the lymph and nerve tissues that were infiltrated by tumor.Meanwhile,this method can reduce the local recurrence rate so as to improve the long-term survival of patients.