The effect of early pancreatectomy and peritoneal lavage on the development of experimental haemorrhagic pancreatitis in pigs.

Forty-seven piglets were operated on; haemorrhagic pancreatitis was induced in 42 of them. The effects of pancreatic resection and peritoneal lavage on the development of the disease were compared. Since the pancreatic phospholipase A2 value has been shown to be important in the pathophysiology of the disease, the effect of pancreatic resection on the enzyme serum activities was studied. Early pancreatic resection and early peritoneal lavage were equally effective in reducing the mortality of the animals. When the pancreatic resection was performed later, most of the animals died. The difference in mortality between the groups was statistically significant (p less than 0.01). In the animals with late pancreatectomy the high serum phospholipase A2 activities fell to normal levels within a few hours after the operation. This strongly suggests that the enzyme is of pancreatic origin.