Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive chronic inflammatory disease of caused by gene and other environmental factors, and clinical manifestation includes recurrent abdominal pain and dysfunction of exocrine and endocrine. For the chronic pancreatitis therapy, surgical treatment mainly aims at the intractable pain which is unresponsive to medical and endoscopic treatment, as well as complications of chronic pancreatitis. Total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation (TPIAT) gradually becomes a major therapeutic option for chronic pancreatitis surgical treatment, because it relieves the abdominal pain, reduces the opioid dependent, improves the quality of life, and increases the opportunity of insulin independent. In the past few years, a range of researches have been focusing on islet isolation, surgical approach, curative effect and postoperative complication, improvement of islet function after operation. The purpose of this article is to summarize the progression of TPIAT related research in the recent years.