title: Management of pancreatic pseudocyst in the era of laparoscopic surgery--experience from a tertiary centre.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the era of minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopy has a great role to play in the management of pseudocyst of pancreas. We present our surgical experience over the past 12 years (May 1994 to April 2006) in the management of pancreatic pseudocysts.
  
  
  METHODS
  The total number of cases was 108, with 76 male and 32 female patients. Age ranged from 18 to 70 years. Duration of symptoms ranged from 45 days to 7 months. Fifty-nine patients presented with pain abdomen. Sixty-one patients had co-morbid illness. Ten patients had abdominal mass on clinical examination. Predisposing factors were gallstones in 58 cases, alcohol in 20 cases, trauma in eight cases and post-pancreatectomy in one case. In 21 cases there are no predisposing factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the cases were successfully operated without any significant intraoperative complication. Laparoscopic cystogastrostomy was done in 90 cases (83.4%), laparoscopic cystojejunostomy in eight cases (7.4%), open cystogastrostomy in two cases (1.8%), and laparoscopic external drainage in eight cases (7.4%). Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was done in 47 cases along with the drainage procedure. The mean operating time was 95 minutes. Mean blood loss was 69 ml. Mean hospital stay was 5.6 days. Percutaneous tube drain to assist decompression of the cyst was kept in all the laparoscopic cystojejunostomy (LCJ) group. Two patients were re-operated for bleeding and gastric outlet obstruction. We had no mortality in the postoperative period. With mean follow up of 54 months (range 3-145 months); only one patient who underwent laparoscopic cystogastrostomy (LCG) earlier in this series had recurrence due to inadequate stoma size. This patient later underwent OCG CONCLUSION: Laparoscopy has a significant role to play in the surgical management of pseudocysts with excellent outcome. It offers all the benefits of minimally invasive surgery to the patients.
authors.affiliation: GEM Hospital, 45-A, Pankaja Mill Road, Ramnathapuram, Coimbatore, 641045, India.
authors.forename: Chinnusamy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palanivelu
authors.forename: Karuppuswamy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Senthilkumar
authors.forename: Madathupalayam Velusamy
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Madhankumar
authors.forename: Pidigu Seshiyar
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Rajan
authors.forename: Alangar Roshan
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Shetty
authors.forename: Kalpesh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jani
authors.forename: Muthukumaran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rangarajan
authors.forename: Gobi Shanmugam
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Maheshkumaar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic; D004322:Drainage / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005774:Gastrostomy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007582:Jejunostomy / Q000379:methods; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010192:Pancreatic Pseudocyst / Q000601:surgery*; D012008:Recurrence; D012086:Reoperation; D016896:Treatment Outcome