For one whole decade, a panel of international specialists devoted itself to the study and management of pancreatic diseases, together with the different diagnostic methods available. Their diagnostic findings are reproduced in this book, which contains the proceedings of an international meeting held in Magdeburg in December 1995. The rationale for the interpretation of the findings is derived from an understanding of the basic physiological and pathophysiological events and the resultant morphological alterations. Alongside the progress made in the last 10 years in the areas of acute and chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer, the panel discusses advances in laboratory and functional methods, the future of imaging, pathomorphological and molecular biological procedures, and the clinical features of the various pancreatic diseases.