An operation to remove part of the pancreas. It may also involve removing part of the stomach, the duodenum, the gall bladder and part of the bile duct. Another name for it is Whipple's operation. Sometimes the doctor may be able to operate without removing any of the stomach. This is called a pylorus-preserving Whipple's. See cancer of the pancreas section.

Originally described by Alessandro Codivilla in 1898 and Kausch in 1912; and perfected by Allen Oldfather Whipple in the 1930s, pancreaticoduodenectomy is the operation of choice for the management of tumours of the head of the pancreas (the most common site of pancreatic cancer). The basic concept behind the pancreaticoduodenectomy is that the head of the pancreas and the duodenum share the same arterial blood supply, and these arteries run through the head of the pancreas, so that both organs must be removed. To remove only the head of the pancreas would compromise blood flow to the duodenum.