Objective: To evaluate the long-term effect of pancreaticoduodenectomy with no-touch isolation technique. Methods:Fifty-seven patients with ductal adenocarcinoma in the pancreatic head treated from 2004 to 2009 in Yancheng hospital were studied retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups: NTIT(group A,n=32) and conventional techniques (group B,n=25). Blood samples(10 ml) were obtained through a catheter in the portal vein to detect CK20 mRNA expression by RT-PCR before and after surgery. The survival rate, liver metastasis rate and mortality were compared between the two groups. Results: As far as the mean volume of blood loss and the postoperative complications, there were no significant difference in the two groups(P=0.791,P > 0.05). Before the tumor resection, the overall positive rate of CK20 mRNA expression in portal vein blood was 17.54 %(10/54) , including 16.00% in conventional group and 18.75 % in NTIT group. This difference wasn＇t statistically significant(P=0.786,P > 0.05). After surgery, in 13 out of 25 cases (52.00%) of the conventional procedure group, CK20 mRNA was identified in the portal blood, while only 8 out of 32 cases (25.00%) was positive for portal CK20 mRNA in the NTIT group(P=0.024, P < 0.05). The survival rates of 1-, 3-, 5-year in group B were 76.6%,50.0%,40.0%, respectively, which were higher than those in group A. The rate of liver metastasis was significantly higher in group B than in group A(P=0.024, P < 0.05). Conclusion:In pancreatic cancer, the operation could cause the dissemination of cancer cells. The no-touch isolation technique may be a potential operative procedure to prevent cancer cells from being shed into the portal vein during surgical manipulation. NTIT could reduce the rate of liver metastasis so as to improve the long-term survival rate.