Treatment and outcome in pancreatic pseudocysts

Objective. Pancreatic pseudocyst is a common complication of both acute and chronic pancreatitis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and complications of different treatment regimens. Material and methods. All patients >= 15 years of age admitted to Lund University Hospital from 1994 to 2003 with pancreatic pseudocysts were analysed retrospectively. Pseudocysts were defined according to the Atlanta classification. Results. Forty-four patients (29 M (66%), mean age 559/14 years) were included in the study, and all were subjected to treatment on totally 88 occasions. Mean size of pseudocysts at diagnosis was 9.69 +/- 6.8 cm (1.5-40 cm). Recurrence after treatment was 1.0 +/- 1.1 times (range 0-4). No difference was found in recurrence rate or pseudocyst size when comparing conservative versus interventional treatment, but patient weight was higher (p=0.013) and acute pancreatitis was more frequent (p=0.046) in conservatively treated patients. Surgical treatment tended to be associated with a lower recurrence rate as compared with percutaneous treatments. The rate of hospital admissions was in median 3 (0-16) and median length of stay (LOS) was 12 days (0-141 days). Six patients (14%) had complications and 3 died (7%). Pseudocysts >= 8 cm did not differ significantly from smaller pseudocysts regarding the choice of conservative treatment, LOS, recurrence and gastrointestinal obstruction, but there was a trend towards more complications in the group with larger pseudocysts ( 5 versus 1). Conclusions. Patients with pancreatic pseudocysts require frequent hospital admissions and repeated treatments. Larger pseudocysts do not imply more recurrences. The lowest recurrence rate overall was seen after open surgery.