Abstract:Distal pancreatectomy (DP) is a standard procedure for treating benign and malignant tumors of the pancreatic body and tail and chronic pancreatitis. It is widely performed in clinics, accounting for approximately 25% of all pancreatectomies. The incidence of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) is the highest among postoperative complications of pancreatic surgery，and severe POPF can also lead to local or systemic complications such as bleeding and infection, which is a potentially serious and life-threatening disease. Compared with pancreaticoduodenectomy, DP does not require anastomosis of pancreatic-intestine, biliary-intestine and stomach-intestine, and is a simple surgical procedure with a low incidence of postoperative complications and less than 1% mortality. However, the incidence of POPF after DP is much higher than that of pancreaticoduodenectomy, and once POPF occurs, the mortality of patients will increase,reaching 20% to 40%. In recent years, with the development of surgical methods and concepts, the situation of complications after DP has been significantly improved, but the incidence of POPF is still high, and the prolonged disease brings economic and psychological burden to patients and reduces their quality of life. This article mainly reviews the latest research progress on POPF from three aspects: diagnosis, risk factors, prevention and treatment, aiming to improve physicians understanding of POPF.