Pancreaticopleural fistulas
E. W. Pottmeyer 3rd, C. F. Frey and S. Matsuno
Of ten patients with pancreaticopleural fistulas, who ranged in age from 28
to 62 years, eight had primarily thoracic symptoms and no abdominal
symptoms. The other two had abdominal pain after acute pancreatic injury.
Computed tomographic scans disclosed pseudocysts in nine patients. The
effusions resolved in four of the ten patients with transthoracic drainage,
although two of these patients later required surgery because of recurrent
pseudocysts. One patient died 17 days after repair of an abdominal aortic
aneurysm; this patient had been treated by tube thoracostomy. Five patients
underwent surgery; in four of them pancreatography was used to delineate
the site of disruption preoperatively. These patients all survived, and
none required subsequent surgical treatment.
