Treatment of chronic alcoholic pancreatitis by pancreatic resection.

Forty-one patients with chronic pancreatitis caused by alcoholism were selected for resective surgery on the basis of clinical criteria and findings on pancreatography. Five patients had Whipple resections, 32 had 80 percent resections, and 7 had total pancreatectomies (3 previously had subtotal pancreatectomies). One perioperative and three late deaths accounted for the overall mortality of 10 percent. Complete freedom from pain on long-term follow-up was achieved in all of the patients who had total pancreatectomy, in half of the patients who had 80 percent resection, and in only one of five patients who had Whipple resection. Diabetes occurred in only one patient after Whipple resection, in nearly half of the patients after 80 percent pancreatectomy, in a gradually accelerating manner, up to 5 years, and in all patients after total resection, where it was frequently complicated by recurrent alcoholism. Jaundice was a rare complication of disease progression in the overall treatment group; none of these patients presented with cholestasis preoperatively. Recurrent alcoholism was reported in 32 percent of the patients and contributed to two deaths.