Paul G. Lankisch – författare

This book reviews the special role of pancreatic enzymes in normal digestion and gives practical advice for pancreatic enzyme treatment in pancreatic disorders. Pancreatic enzymes play a decisive role in the digestion of fat, protein and carbohydrates. However, they experience a nonparallel decrease during their aboral transit. This physiological role has implications for enzyme treatment in the diseased pancreas.

In the past several years much progress has been made in understanding the basic mechanisms of pancreatic physiology and the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of pancreatic disease. A symposium took place in Munich on 18-19 September 1998 that aimed at summarizing current knowledge of the exocrine pancreas and giving di­ rection to future research. It targeted all practitioners and scientists working in the field of exocrine pancreatic disease. The symposium was also designed to stimulate young persons embarking on a career in this area. It was an exciting meeting for all of us. We wish to extend our thanks to all participants for their prompt submission of manuscripts and to Springer­ Verlag for speedy publication, providing us with an up-to-date volume on pancreatic research. We would also like to thank G. Beyendorff-Hajda and W. Glockner, as well as D. Kriiger, representatives of Knoll Deutschland GmbH, for their organiza­ tional assistance and Knoll itself for its generous sponsorship, which enabled colleagues from other countries to participate and made publication of the symposium possible.

In the past several years much progress has been made in understanding the basic mechanisms of pancreatic physiology and the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of pancreatic disease. A symposium took place in Munich on 18-19 September 1998 that aimed at summarizing current knowledge of the exocrine pancreas and giving di­ rection to future research. It targeted all practitioners and scientists working in the field of exocrine pancreatic disease. The symposium was also designed to stimulate young persons embarking on a career in this area. It was an exciting meeting for all of us. We wish to extend our thanks to all participants for their prompt submission of manuscripts and to Springer­ Verlag for speedy publication, providing us with an up-to-date volume on pancreatic research. We would also like to thank G. Beyendorff-Hajda and W. Glockner, as well as D. Kriiger, representatives of Knoll Deutschland GmbH, for their organiza­ tional assistance and Knoll itself for its generous sponsorship, which enabled colleagues from other countries to participate and made publication of the symposium possible.

This book reviews the special role of pancreatic enzymes in normal digestion and gives practical advice for pancreatic enzyme treatment in pancreatic disorders. Pancreatic enzymes play a decisive role in the digestion of fat, protein and carbohydrates. However, they experience a nonparallel decrease during their aboral transit. This physiological role has implications for enzyme treatment in the diseased pancreas.

As we began to plan this book about 10 years ago, we wanted to write a practical book for medical students, doctors in training, internists, gas­ and surgeons faced with everyday clinical problems in troenterologists, the care of patients with acute and chronic pancreatitis. Now, 10 years lat­ er, our book has become much more than what we had originally intend­ ed, with so many new findings that have expanded our knowledge of pancreatic diseases, not to mention new imaging procedures and con­ trolled studies on the effectiveness of various therapies. Consequently, we decided to include: • The state-of-the-art on diagnosis and therapy in inflammatory pan­ creatic diseases • Recommendations for diagnosis and therapy based on the published results from experienced clinicians. In the many areas still untested we have relied on the decades of experience of the two authors on both sides of the Atlantic • A discussion of unanswered questions for future research by physi­ cians interested in pancreatitis who can draw upon our bibliography of almost 1900 references complete through 1996. We also wanted to demonstrate with this work that two authors from two continents can come to common conclusions that can help physicians and students in their everyday clinical work and their clinical research. It is with deep gratitude that we acknowledge the assistance of Mrs. Gisela Ropte for years of patient cooperation, great precision, and initia­ tive, as well as that of Dr. Dr.