Surgical treatment of acute necrotic-hemorrhagic pancreatitis

The clinical course of an episode of acute pancreatitis varies from a mild transitory form to a severe necrotizing form characterized by multisystem organ failure and mortality in 20% to 40% of cases. Mild pancreatitis does not need specialized treatment, and surgery is necessary only to treat underlying mechanical factors such as gallstones or tumours of papilla of Vater. On the other hand, patients with severe necrotizing pancreatitis need to be identified as early as possible after the onset of symptoms to start intensive care treatment. Patients with infected necrosis, approximately 10 to 20%, must undergo surgical intervention, which consists of an organ-preserving necrosectomy followed by postoperative drainage-lavage or the method of "open abdomen". The Authors report a series of 20 patients operated on for acute necrotizing pancreatitis from 1998 to 2000. They describe the indications and methods of treatment, in particular the additional procedure following necrosectomy.