Monitoring end-tidal carbon dioxide (etCO2) during pancreaticoduodenectomy can guide surgical decisions and improve patient outcomes in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

• Low and high etCO2 levels are linked to worse overall survival compared to normal levels (p < 0.05).
• Cox regression shows low etCO2 has a hazard ratio of 1.80 and high etCO2 a ratio of 1.65 for disease-free survival, indicating significant risk factors.

This underscores the importance of etCO2 monitoring for risk stratification in PDAC surgeries.

• The study evaluated 243 patients with a median age of 68.5 years.