1. Stable pancreatic hematoma: **Conservative management** (place drains if discovered in OR)
2. Distal pancreatic duct injury: **Distal pancreatectomy** (can take 80-90% of the mass of the pancreas without causing diabetes)
3. Irreparable pancreatic head injury: **Place drains initially**. Delayed Whipple or ERCP with stent placement may eventually be necessary.
[Drains should be placed if a pancreatic injury is noted in the OR. ERCP is good at finding duct injuries and may be able to treat with temporary stent.]
[UpToDate: Most pancreatic injuries are low grade (Grade I or Grade II) and most can be managed nonoperatively. When injury to the pancreas is identified during abdominal exploration, the integrity of the main pancreatic duct should be evaluated, and the location of the injury (proximal versus distal) ascertained.
Generally accepted principles of operative management of pancreatic injuries include control of bleeding, wide drainage to control potential pancreatic fistula, avoiding pancreaticoenteric anastomoses, and limiting the extent of procedures in the setting of damage control surgery. **Perhaps the only consensus among trauma surgeons is that wide closed-suction drainage should be performed**. When drains are placed, we prefer to use closed-suction drains rather than sump drainage, which has been associated with a greater incidence of septic pancreatic complications. Drains should be placed transversely, adjacent to the gland. When treating pancreatic injuries, a minimum of two drains should be placed, one superior to the pancreas and one inferior to the pancreas.
* Grade I injuries are minor contusions associated with small hematomas, minor capsular injury, and traumatic pancreatitis. **When minor contusions are identified in the operating room, no specific intervention is needed (not even drainage).**
* Grade II injuries are pancreatic lacerations that do not involve the main pancreatic duct. Bleeding from the parenchyma is often apparent. **Grade II injuries are treated with limited debridement and closed-suction drainage.** Several procedures including suture repair of the capsule, omental plug, bipolar cautery, and tissue sealant have been advocated to decrease pancreatic fistula formation from minor pancreatic ducts injury, but there is no evidence to support these methods.
* Higher grade injuries (grades III, IV, V) include pancreatic ductal injuries and these injuries are often associated with duodenal injury. Multiple other traumatic injuries are often associated, necessitating a damage-control approach.
**The management of pancreatic ductal injuries depends upon whether the main pancreatic duct is injured to the right or left of the superior mesenteric vein.**
Pancreatic transection or parenchymal injury to the **left of the superior mesenteric vein is managed with distal pancreatectomy**. Distal pancreatic resection can be accomplished without sacrificing the spleen, or significantly prolonging operative time and should be considered in hemodynamically stable patients with isolated pancreatic injury. To salvage the spleen, the splenic artery branches and venous tributaries draining the posterior surface of the pancreas are isolated and ligated, working from distal to proximal, followed by division of the pancreas.
**Management of pancreatic duct injury to the right of the superior mesenteric vessels depends upon the presence and extent of pancreatic tissue devitalization and concomitant duodenal injury. Options include debridement and wide suction drainage, extended distal pancreatectomy with division of the pancreas to the right of the superior mesenteric vessels, and pancreaticoduodenectomy.**
Due to the high incidence of endocrine insufficiency and diabetes with removal of \>90% of the pancreas, some authors have advocated Roux-en-Y distal pancreaticojejunostomy (with oversewing of the proximal segment) for proximal duct transections (ie, central pancreatectomy). Central pancreatectomy has an advantage over distal or subtotal pancreatectomy in preserving the tail of the pancreas and its endocrine and exocrine function, as well as the spleen. However, the risk of anastomotic leak and morbidity are significant and some argue that a more conservative approach should be used. In a review of 134 patients with blunt pancreatic duct injury, 34 patients with proximal injuries (not Grade V) were treated with closed suction drainage alone. Complication rates were no different compared with more aggressive approaches. Favorable results have also been reported for proximal duct injury due to gunshot wounds using debridement, suture repair, and closed suction drainage. These considerations and the complexity of the procedure make central pancreatectomy unsuitable for many patients, particularly multiply-injured patients. The technical aspects of central pancreatectomy are discussed elsewhere.
**Main pancreatic duct injuries with extensive injury to the pancreatic head can also be managed using anterior Roux-en-Y pancreaticojejunostomy for internal drainage provided there is sufficient parenchyma that is preserved. However, this procedure has been associated with a high incidence of pancreatic leak and abscess formation.**]