A VARIETY of pancreatic lesions may result in the accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity. Although approximately 10% to 20% of patients with carcinoma of the pancreas develop ascites, this occurrence usually indicates wide peritoneal metastases. It is not unusual to find accumulation of peritoneal fluid in patients who succumb from severe forms of chronic pancreatitis. Generally, however, ascites is unusual with reversible chronic pancreatic disease. A pseudocyst of the pancreas is seldom considered in the differential diagnosis of massive ascites, and this association has received little attention in the surgical literature. In the few cases that have been reported with the association of a pancreatic pseudocyst and massive ascites, the majority of cases have been in patients with chronic alcoholism. Our recent experience with two patients having abdominal ascites and pancreatic pseudocyst, following blunt abdominal trauma, prompted this report.
Report of Cases
Case 1.
—This 28-year-old Negro woman