Traumatic injuries of the pancreas.

Traumatic injuries of the pancreas have evolved from an uncommon encounter of even wartime wounds to a relatively common injury of today's civilian strife. A review of 448 patients sustaining pancreatic trauma demonstrated that the pancreatic injury alone contributes little to immediate or late mortality but is frequently a source of postoperative morbidity. Complications of pancreatic injury comprise almost half of those observed after trauma in such patients, but for the most part are self-limited and easily cared for. Survival among patients sustaining pancreatic injury depends mainly upon the degree of success with which the multiple associated injuries can be managed.