Distal Pancreatectomy (laparoscopic or open)
Surgeons perform a “distal pancreatectomy” for tumors in the body or tail area of the pancreas. The more common reasons for resecting the body and the tail of the pancreas include:

• Adenocarcinoma
• Islet cell adenoma of the beta cell and non-beta cell type
• Cysts and chronic calcific pancreatitis

Ductal pancreatectomy involves removing the tail of the pancreas. Often this operation is accompanied by the removal of the spleen because of its vicinity to the tail of the pancreas. If the spleen is removed, patients need to be vaccinated before surgery against meningococcus, haemophilus influenzae and pneumococcus. This is because the spleen usually produces the antibodies needed to combat these organisms.