Surgical treatment of chronic obstructive pancreatitis

Chronic obstructive pancreatitis usually manifests with intractable pain and recurrent episodes of chronic pancreatic inflammation. The side-to-side pancreaticojejunostomy is used for those patients with a large pancreatic duct. But for the patients with small pancreatic duct, the optimal surgical procedure needs to be evaluated. We have used end-to-side pancreaticojejunostomy instead of pancreaticoduodenectomy. in recent two years. The results were compared between two groups. Fourteen patients with chronic obstructive pancreatitis were included. Seven patients (Group A) underwent distal pancreatectomy plus end-to-side pancreaticojejunostomy, and the other seven patients (Group B) underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were compared. The operative time was significantly shorter and operative blood loss was less in the group A. The postoperative follow up of patients in group A had better outcome with increased body weight and no steatorrhea, all of them had complete pain relief We concluded that distal pancreatectomy with end-to-side pancreaticojejunostomy provided a better surgical treatment for the patients with chronic obstructive pancreatitis and small pancreatic duct.