Seifert H, Biermer M, Schmitt W et al.
Oldenburg Municipal Hospital, Oldenburg, Germany.
Gut 2009;58:1260–6.
Editor’s note: Pancreatic necrosis and superinfection following acute pancreatitis is a serious condition that is difficult to manage, and mortality is high whether or not surgery is undertaken. Seifert and colleagues pioneered a novel endoscopic approach to debride the pancreas in such situations through a transgastric or transduodenal access to the retroperitoneal cavity followed by endoscopic debridement (
Lancet 2000;356:653–5). The same group now report their long-term follow up on 93 patients with pancreatic necrosis (with suspected or actual pancreatic infection) who were treated with this approach in six different centers in Germany.