[Acute necrotic pancreatitis: toward restriction of surgical indications]

Fifty-two patients operated for acute necrotising pancreatitis are reported. All severely-ill patients, operated early in order to perform a necrosectomy, died subsequently. Patients without severe illness were operated either for a complication of their pancreatic necrosis or electively for biliary lithiasis. The postoperative mortality was 29 p. 100 and 0 p. 100 respectively. Pancreatic necrosectomies were associated with a high morbidity whether performed for complications (64 p. 100) or during elective biliary surgery (33 p. 100). From this study, it appears that there is no indication for early necrosectomy in the severe forms of acute necrotising pancreatitis. However, pancreatic abscess remains a formal indication for drainage. It seems also justified to perform elective surgery without necrosectomy for biliary lithiasis complicated by acute necrotising pancreatitis.