Prediction of outcome of pancreaticogastrostomy for pain in chronic pancreatitis.

On the basis of 18 preoperative variables obtained consecutively in 31 patients undergoing drainage operation for pain in chronic pancreatitis, a preoperative discriminant score for satisfactory/unsatisfactory result is set up. The patient most likely to be free of pain after the operation has no preoperative use of tranquilizers, no diabetes, little dilatation of the pancreatic duct, no small pseudocysts, but daily use of opiates. This is probably not a matter of causal connection but rather an expression of common underlying pathophysiological mechanism(s), somatic or psychological. A pocket chart for the practical use in the preoperative assessment index is designed.