In the treatment of pancreatitis in recent decades various surgical methods are used. Essentially we can divide them into resection and drainage methods. In the submitted paper the authors review possible surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis and indications of optimal surgical methods in different forms of chronic pancreatitis. The application of these surgical procedures is demonstrated on a group of patients operated by the authors in 1985-2001. The authors discuss the problem of indication of patients for surgical treatment and selection of the optimal surgical methods for the treatment of chronic pancreatitis.

        Key words: Chronic pancreatitis - Surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis