The resectability rate of the carcinoma located in the head of the pancreas has been discouragingly low as illustrated by the rate of 14.1% in Porter's series9and 10% in Moore's report.8The main reason for this low rate is apparently its anatomical situation in the vicinity of the portal vein. Early involvement of the portal vein has made such a lesion inoperable in most cases. It is natural to deduce, therefore, that a block resection of the tumor and the portal vein together, supplemented by appropriate reconstruction of the portal system, would greatly improve the rate of resectability of carcinomas in this particular area. Our efforts in the experimental laboratory aimed at the solution of this problem have resulted in a reasonably safe and clinically applicable method of resection and reconstruction of the portal vein using a portal vein homograft preserved in a 70% alcohol solution and