Pancreatitis historical perspective

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Historical Perspective

Dutch physician and anatomist, Nicholaes Tulp in the year 1652 gave the first clear description of acute pancreatitis. The first systemic analysis of acute pancreatitis was presented by Reginald Huber Fitz in 1889. During the 20th century many theories were proposed with regards to whether surgery is to be preferred as the initial approach to the treatment of acute pancreatitis.

Hans Chiari in 1896 proposed that the basic mechanism of the disease was autodigestion of pancreas.

The father of modern anatomical pathology, Giovanni Battista Morgagni gave the first description of pancreatic pseudocysts.