Normative CT perfusion parameters of pancreas in relation to the age and gender

Purpose: A variety of inflammatory and neoplastic lesions of pancreas can be characterized and prognosticated by perfusion CT (Computed Tomography). Knowing the normal perfusion values is essential before such values could be interpreted as abnormal. The aim of this study was to obtain a normative data of the perfusion parameters of normal pancreatic parenchyma with respect to the age and gender.Materials and Methods: Total 33 subjects underwent perfusion CT of pancreas. The perfusion parameters like BF (Blood-Flow), PEI (Peak Enhancement Index), TTP (Time to Peak) and BV (Blood-Volume) were obtained by placing an ROI (Region of Interest) on normal pancreas. Descriptive statistics of the perfusion values was tabulated and relationship of perfusion characteristics with age and sex of the subjects were calculated applying Pearson’s correlation coefficient.Results: 18 subjects were males and 15 were females. 4 subjects belonged to 20-40 age group, 18 belonged to 40-60 age group and 11 belonged to 60-80 age group. BF fell within a range of 11.0 to 161.2 ml100gm-1min-1 (Mean ± SD=69.12 ± 36.96), PEI ranged from 23.70 to 165.0HU (Mean ± SD=51.82 ± 26.51), BV ranged from 7.8 to 321.5 ml100gm-1 (Mean ± SD=52.31 ± 54.97) and TTP ranged from 8.0 to 58.30s (Mean ± SD=20.16 ± 9.08). BF showed a negative correlation with the patient's age (r = -.252) on applying the Pearson’s correlation coefficient, indicating parenchymal perfusion of the normal pancreas declining with age (p>0.05). The PEI showed a negative correlation with patient’s age (P>0.05) and BV and TTP showed appositive correlation with the patient’s age (P>0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed in perfusion values of normal pancreatic parenchyma between men and women.Conclusion: Though not statistically significant, a tendency of BF and PEI to reduce with age, BV and TTP to increase with age was observed which require studies with large sample size to determine the true significance.