The first complete general study of acute necrotizing hemorrhagic pan creatitis was made in 1889 by Reginald Fitz. If we survey the therapeutic evolution of this severe illness, we may briefly summarize it into three pe riods: (a) resolutely surgical treatment, from approximately 1880 to 1938; (b) much more conservative treatment, from 1938 to 1963; and (c) a return to surgery, from 1963 onward. Hoffmann, in 1911, was probably the first to advocate the removal of the necrotic portion of the pancreas. In 1933, Okinczyc wrote: "The ope rative indications are not a matter for discussion;...