Surgical options for control of abdominal pain in chronic pancreatitis patients

BACKGROUND: Long lasting and unbearable abdominal pain is the most common symptom of chronic pancreatitis (CP). This study aimed to evaluate surgical options for the control of chronic pancreatic pain based on anatomical morphological changes. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients who underwent surgery for treatment of chronic pancreatic pain in Peking University First Hospital between January 2000 and December 2017 was performed. The surgical options included modified Puestow procedure, Frey procedure, Beger procedure, pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) or pylorus preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy (PPPD), distal pancreatectomy and total pancreatectomy. RESULTS: Among 116 patients, pain relief rate after surgery was 82.6% (95/115) while 22 (23.2%) cases suffered recurrent chronic pancreatic pain during follow-up. Pain relief rate was 83.1% (54/65) after modified Puestow procedure, 63.6% (7/11) after distal pancreatectomy, 83.3% (10/12) after PD/PPPD, 86.7% (13/15) after Frey procedure, and 90% (9/10) after Beger procedure. Pain recurrence rate was 27.8% (15/54) after modified Puestow procedure, 42.9% (3/7) after distal pancreatectomy, 10% (1/10) after PD/PPPD, 15.4% (2/13) after Frey procedure, and 11.1% (1/9) after Beger procedure. CONCLUSION: The surgical options for the control of chronic pancreatic pain according to the anatomical morphological changes of CP is reasonable and effective. The procedure of distal pancreatectomy alone should be cautiously used for pain relief.