Radiology, Vol 181, 785-791, Copyright © 1991 by Radiological Society of North America

ARTICLES

Pancreatic disease: prospective comparison of CT, ERCP, and 1.5-T MR imaging with dynamic gadolinium enhancement and fat suppression

RC Semelka, MA Kroeker, JP Shoenut, R Kroeker, CS Yaffe and AB Micflikier
Department of Radiology, St Boniface General Hospital MRI Facility, Winnipeg, Man, Canada.

New magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques possess features desirable for imaging the pancreas. Computed tomography (CT) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) were prospectively compared with breath-hold fast low-angle shot (FLASH) and fat-suppressed spin-echo techniques before and after enhancement with gadopentetate dimeglumine. Thirty-five patients underwent ERCP, CT, and/or MR imaging studies within a 1-month period. Correlation with surgical findings, histologic findings, or clinical and/or imaging follow-up was obtained in all cases. Quantitative measurements of pancreas, pancreas minus pancreatic lesion, and pancreas minus fat signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) were performed on MR images. The highest measurements of pancreas minus pancreatic tumor SNR were on gadolinium- enhanced, fat-suppressed images (8.9 +/- 3.4). The 1-second postcontrast FLASH images most reliably showed enhancement of normal pancreatic tissue. Nonenhanced FLASH images depicted peripancreatic fluid and inflammatory changes most successfully. The findings from this study suggest MR imaging is effective for imaging inflammatory and neoplastic pancreatic disease and may be superior to CT.

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