[Alcoholic pancreatitis and pseudocysts. Prospective study of 20 cases in Réunion Island].

In the french indian ocean's island whose name is Reunion, between 1984 and 1986, 20 pancreatic pseudocysts, exclusively encountered in alcoholic patients, were submitted to a prospective study. Most of the lesion were very symptomatic, large and extrapancreatic. Accordingly to Marseille's classification, most of the patients were suffering from acute or chronic relapsing pancreatitis. 18 patients were submitted to a therapeutic procedure. Internal drainage was performed in 9 patients, and external drainage was performed in 5. In addition, pancreatic resection was carried out in 2 patients, and needle aspiration in 2. Comments concern potential specificities of the population which was studied. Special emphasis concern the necessity of preoperative computerized tomographic scanning, the indications of percutaneous external drainage and the long-term survival of patients.