The incidence of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas (IPMN) is increasing year by year with the development of diagnostic techniques and currently accounts for about 30% of cystic lesions of the pancreas. IPMN is characterized by potential malignancy, with a 10-year disease-related survival rate of more than 95% for IPMN that is not yet malignant and an overall 5-year survival rate of less than half of the former once IPMN contains invasive carcinoma. Overall, the prognosis after IPMN carcinoma is better than that of the common invasive ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Massachusetts General Hospital reported that the probability of lymph node metastasis in intraductal papillary mucinous carcinoma is about 30%, which is significantly different from the typical invasive ductal carcinoma of the pancreas with a probability of lymph node metastasis of about 70%. Moreover, most of the tumors are pathologically staged at stage II, unlike invasive ductal carcinoma which is predominantly advanced. The pathological types of IPMN are intestinal, pancreatic biliary, eosinophilic, gastric, etc., with the intestinal type being the predominant type. In general, the process of IPMN from benign to malignant is still unclear. However, it is generally believed that the whole process takes at least 5-7 years. The probability of malignancy in the main pancreatic duct is higher than that in the branch pancreatic ducts, and the probability of its occurrence is more than 50%. In terms of prognosis, it is mainly based on surgical pathology, the degree of tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, vascular invasion, failure of complete surgical resection, etc. are the main basis for prognosis. Epidemiological studies have found that the 5-year overall survival of IPMN with lymph node metastasis is only 12%, which is much lower than that of IPMN without lymph node metastasis. The main means of treatment is surgery, and according to the opinion of the European and American Multidisciplinary Expert Group on Pancreatic Cancer in 2012, surgery is recommended for IPMN of the main pancreatic duct regardless of whether it is located in the head or tail of the pancreas, and regardless of the size of the tumor. The surgical margins are required to be as negative as possible. In the case of branch pancreatic ducts, the need for surgery is based on the diameter of the cystic lesion, the thickness of the cystic wall, the relationship with the main pancreatic duct, and cytocentesis. The follow-up treatment of surgery is still being explored, and the current principles of pancreatic cancer management are not entirely appropriate for IPMN. In benign IPMN, no further treatment is generally needed, while in invasive IPMN, according to available data, radiotherapy-based treatment is recommended for IPMN in which the tumor cannot be completely resected or in which lymph node invasion is found during surgery.