Five year experience with pancreatic pseudocysts.

Twenty-six patients with pancreatic pseudocysts underwent surgical intervention from 1975 through 1979. Chronic alcohol use was associated with pancreatic disease in 84.6 percent of these patients. The clinical findings are not specific, and ultrasonographic examination of the abdomen and computed tomographic scanning have been the most reliable diagnostic tests. External drainage is performed for infected or thin-walled cysts, and carries a complication rate of 72.7 percent in this series. Internal drainage was complicated 31 percent of the time. There were no deaths in this series.