<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>During the ten year period from 1980 to 1989, 51 patients were treated at Oulu University Central
Hospital for fulminant acute pancreatitis. Five were in a moribund state on admission and died shortly
afterwards, 6 were treated conservatively and survived, and 40 were operated on, 17 by primary
pancreatic resection and 23 by debridement of the peripancreatic area. Mortality rates were 53 per cent
for the resection group and for the debridement group 22 per cent.</p> <p>Reoperations were performed in 24 per cent of patients in the pancreatic resection group and in 60 per cent of those in the debridement group.</p> <p>The high mortality rate associated with primary pancreatic resection has caused us to adopt a more
conservative strategy, and surgical treatment is directed towards later complications of this severe
disease.</p>
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HPB Surg. 1993; 6(4):255-262