Resection of the Head of the Pancreas in the Treatment of Chronic Pancreatitis

Abstract

In the past, chronic pancreatitis was regarded as a rare disease in Japan. However changing eating and drinking habits, especially concerning alcohol consumption and fatty foods, has led to an increased number of patients with severe chronic pancreatitis. About 20%–30% of patients with chronic pancreatitis have enlargement of the head of the pancreas due to inflammatory alteration of the gland [1,2]. Surgical treatment of patients with this type of severe chronic pancreatitis needs resection of the most severely inflamed portion of the gland to relieve their debilitating pain [3,4]. With the advance of preoperative diagnostic procedures such as ERCP, ultrasonography, and CAT scan structural abnormalities of the pancreas in patients with chronic pancreatitis can now be easily diagnosed. Surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis can be more selective than in the past. We present here our experience with resection of the head of the pancreas in 90 patients with chronic pancreatitis.