The Romanian Association of Hepato-Bilio-Pancreatic Surgery and Liver Transplantation (ARCHBPTH) deplores the campaign of denigration through two successive articles recently published in the newspaper Le Point, Paris (28.05 and 01.06.2024 respectively) directed against Prof. Philippe Bachellier, member of the French Academy of Surgery and head of the Hepato-Bilio-Pancreatic Surgery and Transplantation Department at the Hautepierre hospital in Strasbourg. In short, these articles show that at the Hautepierre hospital dozens of patients were subjected to difficult operations, especially pancreatic ones, by a brilliant surgeon (Prof. Philippe Bachellier), considered by some colleagues (anonymous in the articles) to be unnecessary and which altered the fate of these patients. Thanks to his reputation as a surgeon of last chance for patients, Prof. Philippe Bachellier would have attracted inoperable patients to Strasbourg from both France and abroad in the hope of miracles happening at the Hautepierre hospital!

In practice, these articles claim that Prof. Philippe Bachellier was conducting dangerous experiments on some patients, like guinea pigs, through unnecessary operations, especially in cases of pancreatic neoplasm in advanced stages (borderline and locally advanced). Some of the anonymous doctors, who claim to have worked at the Hautepierre hospital and who discuss some specific cases, especially of these forms of pancreatic cancer, are unfortunately not those who practice extensive pancreatic and peripancreatic vascular interventions and do not take into account the fact that the therapeutic attitude in these cases, sometimes at the limit of resectability, was decided by the multidisciplinary oncology council of the Hautepierre hospital.

Resection of pancreatic cancer in its borderline and locally advanced presentation requires a pancreatic surgeon with skills and technical knowledge that are not usually found in routine pancreatic resections. Prof. Philippe Bachellier is known as one of the world’s leading specialists in these cases of advanced pancreatic cancer, his results having been published and validated in multicenter studies both in France and worldwide. He is considered, through complex pancreatic resections associated with vascular ones, as a surgeon of last resort for some patients.

We recall that, in the last two decades, neoadjuvant chemotherapy has changed the paradigm of pancreatic resections for borderline and locally advanced pancreatic cancer and thus, in well-selected cases, some of these patients become resectable in some centers of excellence in pancreatic surgery, such as the one led by Prof. Philippe Bachellier at the Hautepierre hospital in Strasbourg.

ARCHBPTH supports Prof. Philippe Bachellier, particularly appreciating his professional activity and achievements, which define him as one of the most important experts in pancreatic surgery at an international level.

Prof. Dr. Irinel Popescu, Honorary President

Prof. Dr. Nadim Al Hajjar, Acting President

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Florin Botea, Permanent Secretary General