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Pancreatic necrosis (PN) develops in 5% to 40% of patients with acute pancreatitis despite adequate treatment in the early phase. According to its location, PN can involve the pancreatic parenchyma, the peripancreatic parenchyma, or both. The most important factor in determining invasive treatment for PN is the presence of infection in the necrotic tissue. In cases with asymptomatic sterile PN, conservative management is the treatment of choice. However, when infection of PN is diagnosed by a positive aspirate, surgical necrosectomy has been the standard treatment for decades, based on the surgical dogma of removing the necrotic or dead tissue that is prone to infection. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, infected PN had been regarded as an indication for immediate (within 24 hours) open surgical necrosectomy. Since then, however, the concept of minimally invasive intervention and the notion of postponing intervention have been supported by a variety of studies. The latest evidence-based guidelines recommend a “staged,” “minimally invasive,” “step-up” approach for patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis (Table 1). In clinical practice, infected PN is diagnosed when gas is found in the necrotic collection in an imaging study and/or when unequivocal clinical signs of infection are present without another infectious focus (i.e., pneumonia). However, gas may also occur in the necrotic collection as a result of a fistula to the stomach/intestine. The use of fine needle-aspiration (FNA) for diagnostic purposes alone is limited in a state-of-the-art practice. When infected PN is suspected, the recommended treatment is administration of broad spectrum antibiotics with optimal penetration, as antibiotics may postpone or even obviate the need for invasive intervention. If antibiotics fail to ameliorate clinical deterioration, the next consideration is catheter drainage of the necrotic collection, as drainage of the infected fluid may stabilize the patient’s clinical condition and provide time for further encapsulation. Gram staining and culture of the fluid obtained during initial drainage may also guide the use of appropriate antibiotics. Many patients can be successfully treated with catheter drainage alone, without the need for additional necrosectomy; therefore, necrosectomy can be reserved for those cases in which infected PN cannot be managed with catheter drainage. Compared with open surgical necrosectomy, minimally invasive necrosectomy induces a smaller proinflammatory response and a lower rate of new-onset organ failure, thereby resulting in lower mortality and morbidity. Invasive intervention for infected PN should ideally be postponed until the necrotic collection has partially liquefied and has become encircled by a well-defined inflammatory wall. This walled-off necrosis (WON) usually occurs >4 weeks after the onset of necrotizing pancreatitis and can allow a safer and more effective intervention. The interventions used to drain and/or debride pancreatic/peripancreatic necrosis can be categorized into: (1) endoscopic approaches–endoscopic drainage with/ without subsequent endoscopic necrosectomy; (2) percutaneous approaches–percutaneous catheter drainage with/without subsequent minimally invasive retroperitoneal surgery (i.e., videoscopic-assisted retroperitoneal debridement or sinus tract endoscopy). Open surgical approaches are seldom used any more. The treatment modality is chosen by multidisciplinary consensus based on the center’s expertise, facilities, and clinical experience, as well as the location of the PN. In this issue of Gut and Liver, the Virginia Mason Medical

Drainage Procedures for the Treatment of Walled-Off Pancreatic Necrosis: Is More Refinement Necessary?