Successful treatment of pancreatic pseudocyst with a somatostatin analogue and catheter drainage.

We report a patient with bile duct stone-induced pancreatitis who subsequently developed a large pseudocyst that became infected after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was done for extraction of the stones. Percutaneous external drainage allowed control of the infection, but failed to seal the pseudocyst. We then treated the patient with a long-acting somatostatin analogue which shrunk the cyst within a week. Patients with pancreatic pseudocyst resistant to drainage should be offered a course of somatostatin before surgery is contemplated.