Surgical Treatment of Pancreatitis

Lee, Woo Jung

Abstract

The management of pancreatitis remained controversial over the past decades, varying from conservative medical treatment to surgical treatment. However, in recent years, treatment of severe acute pancreatitis is shifting from an early surgical debridement and necrosectomy to an aggressive intensive medical care. While the treatment is conservative in the earlier phase of the disease, surgery might be considered in the later phase. In chronic pancreatitis and in pancreatic pseudocyst, various surgical approaches are available these days. Apart from the conventional open surgery, laparoscopic procedure became popular since it is minimally invasive and effective. In addition, with the great improvements in interventional radiology and endoscopic techniques, multidisciplinary approaches including medical, interventional, and surgical management become much more important in the proper treatment of pancreatitis. In this review, pancreatitis is classified into three categories (acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic pseudocyst) for convenience, and the surgical treatment is described in each category.