Early surgery for biliary pancreatitis.

Herein, we documented our successful experience in performing definitive biliary tract surgery on patients with biliary pancreatitis as soon as the diagnosis was made and within 48 hours of admission. Early surgery reduced the length of hospital stay and did not result in associated morbidity, death, or complications of acute pancreatitis. The results of the study support the concept that removing obstruction of the pancreatic duct prevents progression of edematous pancreatitis to hemorrhagic pancreatitis. We conclude that patients with acute pancreatitis should be evaluated urgently for the presence of biliary tract stone disease and should be operated on as soon as the diagnosis of biliary pancreatitis is made, that early definitive surgery can be performed safely on patients with biliary pancreatitis, that cholecystectomy with intraoperative cholangiography and common duct exploration as necessary should be performed in all patients, and that length of stay for patients with biliary pancreatitis is reduced and morbidity and mortality possibly may be reduced by early surgery as compared with delayed surgery.