Percutaneous drainage of pancreatic and peripancreatic fluid collections.

Radiographically guided therapeutic percutaneous catheter drainage was used to manage 25 patients with 27 pancreatic and peripancreatic fluid collections. Nine of 11 (82%) noninfected and 11 of 16 (69%) infected collections were successfully managed with percutaneous drainage. Overall, eight complications and four deaths occurred in this group of patients. The morbidity and mortality in this series is somewhat higher than that previously reported in the radiologic literature. A discussion of the guidelines for percutaneous drainage is presented.