Surgical management of the pancreatic pseudocyst in children: A long-term evaluation☆

Pseudocyst of the pancreas is an uncommon disorder in children. During the period of 1977 to 1990, the authors reviewed the records of 10 consecutive patients with pancreatic pseudocyst (PP) who were surgically treated in our institution. In 8 patients, the surgical procedure that was used was transgastric cystogastrostomy, and in 1 patient it was total excision of the pseudocyst. The remaining 1 patient underwent external drainage. After an average follow-up of 8.5 years, none of the patients had any complaint related to previous operation except the 1 patient who was treated with external drainage. Biochemical tests, abdominal ultrasonographies, and barium meals were also normal in 9 patients. The analysis of the results indicates that despite new percutaneous therapeutic modalities, it is still an internal drainage through transgastric cystogastrostomy that should be favored in treatment of PP in children.