Infection prevention in necrotizing pancreatitis: an old challenge with new perspectives

Necrotizing pancreatitis still remains a life-threatening disease despite s everal improvements in diagnosis, prevention and treatment. In recent years , some important questions have been answered such as the need for early in tensive medical treatment rather than early surgery, but others are still s trongly debated. The aim of this paper is to present an up-to-date assessme nt of current challenges in the management of necrotizing pancreatitis in o rder to prevent infection. (C) 2001 The Hospital Infection Society.