Until recently, the first-choice intervention in patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis or sterile necrosis with clinical deterioration (multiple organ failure) has been open surgical necrosectomy. This approach is associated with considerable morbidity (34-95 per cent) and mortality (11-39 per cent). In 1998, Freeny and colleagues10 first described a consecutive series of patients with infected pancreatic necrosis who were treated primarily with imaging-guided percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD), as an alternative to primary surgical necrosectomy. The rationale for PCD was to drain the infected fluid under tension and gain time to improve organ function of these critically ill patients and thereby delay or avoid surgical necrosectomy. In their retrospective cohort study, PCD was successful in postponing surgical intervention for a median of 4 weeks and even obviated the need for surgical necrosectomy in almost half of the patients. In addition, PCD seems technically feasible in the vast majority of patients with necrotizing pancreatitis.