Ancient and Modern History of Pancreatic Surgery

Pancreatic surgery is complex and associated with a high morbidity, so its development was slow after an initial phase of anatomical studies from the 16th century and exploration of its physiology 3 centuries later. Pancreatic surgery began in the mid-19th century, with simple procedures like external and internal drainage. The first distal pancreatectomies were performed in the late 1800s, while the first cephalic resections, more complex and more risky than distal ones, were performed progressively with several steps from 1898 to 1935. However, the high morbidity and mortality associated with pancreatectomies, mainly related to postoperative pancreatic fistula, limited the development of pancreatic surgery for decades. From the 1980s, the concept of high-volume centers emerged, resulting in decreased mortality and thus enlargement of indications, particularly for benign or inflammatory diseases. The management of postoperative complications has improved with intensive care and interventional radiology. In parallel, surgery for pancreatic adenocarcinoma was completed since the 1990s by adjuvant chemotherapy, then by neodadjuvant treatments, allowing more resections with a more favorable prognosis. More recently, islet cell transplantation, an alternative to pancreatic transplantation, and minimally invasive surgery have expanded the possibilities of less aggressive pancreatic surgery.