[Considerations on and personal experience with postoperative acute pancreatitis after biliary tract surgery]

Blood amylase was evaluated as a sign of pancreas damage in 120 patients subjected to bile duct surgery. Increases justifying the description "acute pancreatitis" were noted only in cases involving the papilla and were small in other circumstances. Emphasis is placed on the value of this routine examination in the immediate postoperative period as a defence against acute pancreatitis.