Introduction:

chronic pancreatitis is the inflammation of the multiple-cause pancreatic gland, which produces pain and damage to the parenchyma, progressive and irreversible, with fibrosis and stenosis of the ducts. Among its treatments is the local resection of the head of the pancreas (excavation) with laterolateral pancreaticojejunostomy, known as Frey's surgery.

Objective:

to demonstrate the effectiveness of Frey's surgery for patients with pain due to chronic pancreatitis.

Method:

a descriptive and prospective study was carried out in 8 patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis operated in the General Surgery Department of the General Teaching Hospital "Dr. Agostinho Neto ", Guantanamo, to whom Frey's surgery was applied. The variables were analyzed: average age, sex, personal pathological history, average time of surgery, average blood transfusion, morbidity, mortality and average follow-up.

Results:

the average age was 51 years, the predominant sex was male and alcoholism was the first cause of chronic pancreatitis. The main conduit of the pancreas had an average diameter of 13.8 mm and the head of the pancreas had an average measurement of 49 mm; the surgical time averaged 282 min and the average blood transfusion was 506.25 ml. Postoperative morbidity was 25.0% and there was no mortality. The follow-up of the patients obtained an average of 42.25 months and 87.56% reported absence of pain after the intervention. During follow-up there was no new onset diabetes or steatorrhea.}

Conclusions:

Frey's surgery is safe, effective and with good results to treat the pain of chronic pancreatitis, especially those with an inflammatory mass in the head of the pancreas, so the authors recommend its use.

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