Introducing this monograph by expressing our heartfeIt thanks to all those who have contributed to its success may seem no more than a rhetorical exercise. However, at the same time we feel duty bound to add our sincere apologies, for we know that many of the dis tinguished authors of the various chapters have been hard put to find any relevant information in the existing literature. The plain fact is that very little has been said and written about pancreatic fistulas compared with other aspects of pancreatic disease. Why is this? Essentially, we believe there may be two main reasons: one...

This volume is a compendium of the lectures, presentations, and workshops of the International Congress entitled "Facing the Pancreatic Dilemma" and of the 17th Meeting of the Italian Association for the Study of the Pancreas, held in Verona on 16 -19 June 1993. Pancreatology is still a relatively young science. Many pathophysiological aspects of pancreatic disease are as yet obscure, and a fair number of the etio pathogenetic mechanisms adduced are no more than hypothetical. We have therefore chosen to compare and contrast in a single volume the various hypo theses and interpretations put...

Uncommon tumors of the pancreas are of increasing interest for clinicians: cross imaging techniques development makes it possible to detect small lesions in the pancreatic gland of asymptomatic patients, and in the last decades a more detailed and specific pathological classification definitivelyopened an unexpected world of more or less rare pancreatic tumors. As a matter of fact, nowadays most surgical procedures deal with these so called uncommon pancreatic tumors such as cystic, endocrine and others unfrequent histotypes, and many patientsexperiencing an accidental discovery of this type...