Transgastric Catheter Drainage of Pancreatic Pseudocysts

Abstract

The surgical management of pseudocysts of the pancreas during the past 30 years has undergone continual revision. Each method of therapy has demonstrated some degree of success but at the same time has yielded to objections and disadvantages, both real and theoretical Conservative management, on the other hand, has given poor results,¹⁸owing to progressive increase in size of the pseudocyst with external pressure on the viscera, particularly the stomach and duodenum, with pain, inanition, and cachexia. Spontaneous rupture has occurred and is followed by a high mortality unless the patient is fortunate enough have the cyst rupture into one of the hollow viscera. <i>Excision</i>of the cystic mass has for the most part been proved impractical, owing to the intimate association of the inflammatory wall of the cyst with the structures bordering the lesser sac, including the vasculature of the region. In the unusual case in which excision