Surgical Treatment of Chronic Pancreatitis: The State of the Art

Chronic pancreatitis is a common disease accompanied with considerable morbidity and mortality. Complications associated with chronic pancreatitis, such as pseudocysts, stenosis of adjacent anatomic structures or pain that cannot be managed conservatively, may be treatable surgically or interventionally by endoscopy. Surgery is superior to endoscopy in regard to long-term pain management. Duodenum preserving pancreatic resection is the surgical procedure of choice in patients with inflamed changes of the head of the pancreas. The best timing of surgery, the ideal standardized perioperative management are the focus of current research.