Chapter 59

Complications After Pancreatic Surgery

How to Deal with Them?

Tommaso Giuliani

Tommaso Giuliani

Department of Surgery, Pancreas Institute of the Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy

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Giovanni Marchegiani

Giovanni Marchegiani

Department of Surgery, Pancreas Institute of the Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy

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Giuseppe Malleo

Giuseppe Malleo

Department of Surgery, Pancreas Institute of the Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy

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Claudio Bassi

Claudio Bassi

Department of Surgery, Pancreas Institute of the Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy

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First published: 16 April 2021

Summary

Postoperative complications represent one of the most debated topics in pancreatic surgery. Indeed, the rate of complications following pancreatectomy is among the highest in abdominal surgery, with morbidity ranging between 30 and 60%. The International Study Group of Pancreatic Surgery provides standardized definitions and clinically based classifications for the most common complications after pancreatectomy, including postoperative pancreatic fistula, postpancreatectomy hemorrhage, delayed gastric emptying, bile leakage, and chyle leak. This chapter provides fundamental definitions and classifications of the most frequent surgical complications following pancreatectomy, and also describes the main diagnostic tools and keystones of treatment according to the most recent evidence. A point of discussion when dealing with postoperative complications in pancreatic surgery is centralization. Solid evidence confirms that hospital volume is a significant independent variable of death following pancreatic surgery.

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