Role of multi-detector computed tomography in the evaluation of pancreatic tumors

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the role of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in evaluation and prediction of pancreatic tumors resectability. Patients and methods The study included 20 patients who had pancreatic masses, 16 males and 4 females, and their age range was 30–70 years with a mean age of 58.0 years. All the patients underwent non-contrast and contrast enhanced Multi-slice CT using a 16-slice machine. The gold standard for diagnosis was histopathology and operative data. Results Adenocarcinoma as reported by pathological studies was found in 8 patients, cyst adenocarcinoma in one patient, infiltrative adenocarcinoma in 2 patients, intraductal papillary mucinous tumor in 2 patients, mucinous cyst adenocarcinoma in one patient, pancreatic pseudo cyst in 2 patients and mucinous cystadenoma in 4 patients. According to MDCT criteria 6 patients were considered suitable for tumor resection and 14 patients were considered inoperable with unresectable tumor, one out of the 6 operable patients was unresectable during operation due to the invasion of the superior mesenteric vein with infiltration of the mesenteric root. Conclusion Contrast-enhanced multiphase pancreatic imaging by multislice computerized tomography (MSCT) with its postprocessing techniques represents the image of choice for diagnosis and predicting pancreatic masses and resectability.