Surgeons now have a validated definition of a textbook outcome for distal pancreatectomy, which influences patient selection and post-operative management.

• Textbook outcomes include no readmissions or deaths within 90 days, length of stay below the 75th percentile, no major complications, and negative margins.
• In a study of 339 patients, only 46.3% achieved this outcome; major complications significantly impacted 180-day mortality (odds ratio 0.04, p = .009).

Defining these outcomes can guide surgical decisions and enhance patient care, particularly for those with adenocarcinoma, where a shorter time to adjuvant therapy was observed for patients meeting textbook criteria (1.47 vs. 2.56 months, p < .001).