Pseudocysts of the pancreas may require drainage or resection during their evolution. External drainage can be considered as a treatment of first resort with low related morbidity. It also offers a means of treating patients with major contraindications for surgery. In our experience, however, only 55% of external drainages prove successful. Therefore, surgical treatment, even at the cost of low-rate morbidity, remains the only final treatment for complications linked to pseudocysts of the pancreas. In the long term, however, these results depend on the etiology of the pseudocysts.