“…By 1972, the general attitude of surgeons toward acute pancreatitis was astutely summarized by Geokas and associates: 2 "A 10-minute surgical discussion on acute pancreatitis should probably include 9 minutes of silence." Perhaps most valid today is the observation by Zimmerman and Janowitz: 3 "Inflammatory pancreatic disease of all forms continues to be an ill-defined collection of puzzling entities." Fortunately, interest in the surgical management of acute pancreatitis remained, and its place is becoming more clearly defined.…”