This is a retrospective study about 80 patients treated for infected necrosis of the pancreas between 1998-2003. Operation was performed in 74 patients, diagnosis was achieved by CT or U.S. guided drainage in 12 patients. In further 6 patients drainage and antibiotic therapy provided cure. In patients who were drained pre-operatively (n=12) the first surgical intervention was performed on average on the 30.2 days after admission, while in the group of patients without drainage surgery became necessary after 15.6 days. The difference is statistically significant (p = 0.001). Our data proved that in certain cases percutaneous drainage can delay surgical intervention. Our results also prove that percutaneous drainage itself can lead to complete cure. In our own practice this stands for about 20% of our patients. In 3 patients we proved that if the patients general condition is stable infected necrosis detected by fine needle aspiration can be successfully treated by antibiotic therapy, without surgical or further radiological intervention.