Individualized surgical treatment for chronic pancreatitis

Because of the complex pathogenesis and progressive development，it is difficult to define the optimal surgical time and procedure for chronic pancreatitis. The individualized treatment of chronic pancreatitis should resect the inflammatory mass of the head of the pancreas and preserve the pancreatic parenchyma to postpone the injury of pancreatic function and improve life quality as well as decrease the risk for carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer. Conservative and endoscopic treatment can be considered in the early stage, while surgical intervention should be applied for chronic pancreatitis with stenosis or obstruction of pancreatic duct and calcification of the pancreatic parenchyma. Frey procedure can be performed on patients only with stone in or dilation of pancreatic duct; patients with obvious inflammatory mass or calcification of the head of the pancreas should receive Beger procedure to decrease the morbidity of pancreatic cancer.