“Acute pancreatitis after operation on the biliary tract is a serious complication. This study was undertaken in an attempt to determine predisposing factors which might exist in patients undergoing operation for biliary tract disease. A large number of patients have been studied by postoperative serum amylase determinations and correlations have been made between the performance of various procedures and the occurrence of clinical and subclinical pancreatitis.”

“Eight hundred forty instances of biliary tract surgery performed during a ten year period
at the St. Louis University Hospital have been studied in relationship to the incidence, cause,
and mortality of postoperative pancreatitis and hyperamylasemia.”

1. “Acute pancreatitis after biliary tract surgery is an uncommon but not rare complication (4 per cent in this series). Subclinical hyperamylasemia as an indication of some degree
   of pancreatic dysfunction occurred in 9.5 per cent of the 547 patients in whom serum amylase determinations were routinely performed.”
2. “Postoperative pancreatitis accounted for eight of the twenty-two deaths after biliary
   tract surgery.”
3. “Operative cholangiography carefully performed does not increase the risk of postoperative pancreatitis.”
4. “No direct relationship could be demonstrated between the development of post-
   operative pancreatitis and the occurrence of pancreatic duct reflux during operative cholangiography.”
5. “Common duct exploration and a preoperative history of pancreatitis are important
   predisposing factors to the development of pancreatitis after biliary tract operations. In
   these patients, routine postoperative serum amylase determinations are recommended as
   an aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of the complication.”

Bardenheier, J A et al. “Pancreatitis after biliary tract surgery.” American journal of surgery vol. 116,5 (1968): 773-6. Full Text for Emory Users