Principles of surgical treatment of necrotizing pancreatitis

In the operative treatment of necrotizing pancreatitis a number of different methods have been described. The variability of these types of therapies does not only show a variance of technical procedures, but also proves that there exist different ideas regarding pathophysiology and development of the disease. Concerning the technique of the operation, the variable pathomorphology in individual cases has to be taken into consideration. Above all, it is shown that there are three principles of operative treatment, which are important for the success: 1) Elimination of the source of the infection, 2) avoidance of peritonitis (avoidance of infection spreading), (3) reduction of the toxic potential. Our results of treatment are reported.