After the Whipple procedure was introduced, many surgeons were reluctant to perform it because it had a high death rate. As recently as the 1970s, up to 25% of patients either died during the surgery or shortly thereafter.
Since then, improvements in diagnosis, staging, surgical techniques, anesthesia, and pos-toperative care have reduced the short-term death rate to less than 4% in patients whose operation is performed at cancer centers by experienced surgeons. At some major centers, the reported death rate is less than 1%. However, the rate may still be above 15% in patients who are treated at small hospitals or by less experienced surgeons.