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This book is the proceedings of the Falk Symposium 143 on 'Pancreatitis: Advances in Pathobiology, Diagnosis and Treatment', held in Freiburg, Germany, on 14--15 October 2004 (Part II of the Gastroenterology Week Freiburg): the first time in the nearly 40-year-old tradition of International Falk Symposia that pancreatitis has been the main topic of the program. The aim of this state-of-the-art postgraduate volume is two-fold. First, it is focused on the marked progress in the understanding, diagnosis and management of acute and chronic pancreatitis that has been achieved within the last two decades. Second, it emphasizes the numerous, clinically relevant problems which are still unsolved.

Progress in pancreatology is based primarily on a close cooperation between gastroenterologists, visceral surgeons, radiologists, endoscopists and basic scientists. Unfortunately, one important discipline is still largely absent - the pathology - because the pancreas is not accessible to routine biopsy comparable to liver biopsy. On the other hand, basic science has made major contributions recently towards an improved understanding of the pathobiology of pancreatitis.

The book provides an overview of the current knowledge of pancreatology by internationally recognized experts, who also discuss open questions and different standpoints. In pancreatology like in physics we have to recognize the idea which was expressed by the physicist and Nobel Laureate W. Pauli (1900--1958): "the question is never: will the present theory remain or not, the question is always: in what direction will it change."