A five-year experience with organ-preserving resection of the pancreatic head in patients with chronic pancreatitis

Introduction: In chronic pancreatitis (CP), enlargement of the pancreatic head develops in consequence of inflammatory alterations. A safe procedure has been developed for organ-preserving pancreatic head resection, and this report is concerned with the results attained with this operation in a five years period. Patients: In 110 patients (m: 82, f: 28; mean age: 47.5 yr.), a new surgical management was performed. The preoperative morbidity comprised frequent abdominal pain, a weight loss in all patients, jaundice in 9 patients, and latent and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in 11 and 15 patients, res…