title: Chronic pancreatitis: modern surgical management.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a disease with enormous social and personal impact. It is most commonly caused by the abuse of alcohol combined with nicotine. CP is usually characterised by an inflammatory mass located in the pancreatic head. Its natural course is characterised by persistent or recurrent painful attacks as well as progressive loss of pancreatic function due to fibrosis of the parenchyma with consecutive endocrine and exocrine insufficiency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The only success parameter of any treatment is the effective long-lasting pain relief and improvement in the quality of life. The surgical armamentarium includes simple drainage procedures, resections of different extents or a combination of both. Duodenum-preserving resection of the pancreas offers the best short-term outcome according to trials conducted so far. It has the benefit of combining the highest safety with the highest efficiency. Additionally, the extent of the operation can be adapted to the morphology of the individual patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. K.bachmann@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.forename: Jakob R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Izbicki
authors.forename: Emre F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Yekebas
mesh_terms: D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*