Operative Versus Non-Operative Management for Pancreatic Trauma: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Background/Objectives: Pancreatic trauma is uncommon but highly morbid, and management has shifted toward non-operative management (NOM) with endoscopic and percutaneous adjuncts. Existing systematic reviews report heterogeneous findings, and no umbrella review has been published. We therefore synthesized this evidence, comparing operative management (OM) with NOM.

Methods

MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched through 3 September 2026, following PRISMA 2020 and PRIOR (PROSPERO CRD420261495303). Eligible studies were systematic reviews comparing OM with NOM in pancreatic trauma. Two reviewers independently performed selection, extraction, AMSTAR 2, and ROBIS appraisal. Findings were synthesized narratively, separately for children and adults, with blunt injury as the primary comparison.