[3 cases of acute postoperative pancreatitis]

After a brief review of the literature the authors present three cases of acute postoperative pancreatitis in patient operated for different reasons with lethal outcome. In one patient the complication developed after duodeno-hemipancreatectomy and is the only patient with such complication (2 per cent) of 50 patients in whom radical operation was performed for cancer of the pancreas over the period Jan. 1983-May 1990. The current aspects of the etiology, treatment and above all of the prophylaxis of acute postoperative pancreatitis, which is a very serious postoperative complication with very high case fatality rate (up to 77 per cent, according to data in the literature) are discussed.