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Review
. 2019 Apr;35(2):110-118.
doi: 10.1159/000499612. Epub 2019 Apr 4.

Surgery in Chronic Pancreatitis: Indication, Timing and Procedures

Stefan A W Bouwense  1 , Marinus A Kempeneers  2 , Hjalmar C van Santvoort  3   4 , Marja A Boermeester  2 , Harry van Goor  1 , Marc G Besselink  2
Affiliations
Review

Surgery in Chronic Pancreatitis: Indication, Timing and Procedures

Stefan A W Bouwense et al. Visc Med. 2019 Apr.

Abstract

Chronic pancreatitis is a chronic inflammation of the pancreas with pain as its severest symptom and often an impaired quality of life. Surgical intervention plays an important role in the management of pain but is generally kept as a last resort when conservative measures and endoscopy have failed. However, in the last few years multiple studies suggested the superiority of (early) surgical treatment in chronic pancreatitis for multiple end points, including pain relief. In this paper we highlight the most recent high-quality evidence on surgical therapy in chronic pancreatitis and the rationale for early (surgical) intervention.

Keywords: Chronic pancreatitis; Early treatment; Pain; Surgery; Timing of interventions.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis. a Lateral pancreaticojejunostomy. b Beger procedure. c Frey procedure. d Pancreaticoduodenectomy (picture used with permission from Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde) [65].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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