Follow-up results of surgical treatment for chronic pancreatitis. Present status in Japan.

The results of surgical treatment for chronic pancreatitis at our clinic and in the eight leading institutions of Japan were reviewed in a total of 328 cases. Abdominal pain disappeared or was alleviated in about 90 percent of the patients who survived more than 6 months after operation. There was no significant differences in the effect of pain among the three main types of operations: pancreaticoduodenectomy, distal resection and pancreatic ductal drainage. In the collected cases, however, complete disappearance of pain was reported more often in patients subjected to Puestow's operation than in those who underwent Nardi's operation. The patients who underwent pancreatic ductal drainage had a greater postoperative weight gain than those without drainage, in both our patients and the collected cases. In the collected cases, Puestow's operation was predominantly linked to postoperative weight gain. Evidence of pancreatic functional improvement, either in endocrine or in exocrine, was very meager.