OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect of different procedures in the treatment of pancreatic pseudocyst.

METHODThis retrospective review analyzed the outcome of 114 patients with pancreatic pseudocysts managed in PUMC Hospital from January 1990 to March 2002.

RESULTThere were 25 patients without intervention, the spontaneous resolution of pseudocysts occurred in 23 of these patients during follow up. Twenty-nine cases underwent CT-guided percutaneous catheter drainage; the effective rate of therapy was 67.85%. Surgical procedures performed in 60 cases and the overall mortality was 5% (3/60). The procedures included external drainage (8 cases) with 1 death (12.5%), excision (13 cases), cyst-duodenostomy (1 cases), cyst-gastrostomy (19 cases) with 7 postoperative gastrointestinal bleeding (36.8%) and 1 death (5.26%), Roux-en-Y cyst-jejunostomy (19 cases) with 3 postoperative gastrointestinal bleeding (15.8%) and 1 death (5.26%).

CONCLUSIONSCT-guided percutaneous catheter drainage has the advantage of minimal invasive and simple technique; it can be as an effective substitute method of traditional open external drainage. Although minimally invasive techniques offer a variety of treatment options, surgical procedures are still indicated for significant number of patients. The incidence of postoperative gastrointestinal bleeding in cyst-gastrostomy was higher than those patients with Roux-en-Y cyst-jejunostomy, but most of them were not difficult to treatment, so cyst-gastrostomy is still a simple and reasonable procedure for selected patients. Excision is a correct choice for cases in which pseudocysts cannot be differentiated from neoplastic cysts.