Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2020 Feb;26(1):256-261.
doi: 10.1111/jep.13138. Epub 2019 Apr 22.

Negative effect of fatty liver on visualization of pancreatic cystic lesions at screening transabdominal ultrasonography

Kazuhiro Kashiwagi  1 , Takashi Seino  1 , Kanako Makino  1 , Ryoko Shimizu-Hirota  1 , Michiyo Takayama  1 , Toshifumi Yoshida  1 , Eisuke Iwasaki  2 , Yoshinori Sugino  1 , Nagamu Inoue  1 , Yasushi Iwao  1 , Takanori Kanai  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Negative effect of fatty liver on visualization of pancreatic cystic lesions at screening transabdominal ultrasonography

Kazuhiro Kashiwagi et al. J Eval Clin Pract. 2020 Feb.

Abstract

Rationale, aims, and objectives: The aim of this observational study is to identify factors by which some pancreatic cystic lesions (PCLs) were undetectable at transabdominal ultrasonography (TAUS), using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as reference standard.

Methods: The database for 781 consecutive subjects who underwent a health checkup including fat computed tomography and upper abdominal MRI as option was searched. The presence of fatty liver and fatty pancreas was diagnosed by TAUS, and atrophic pancreas was determined by reevaluating the image of the pancreas in the chest computed tomography for screening. Subjects with PCL detected and those undetected at TAUS were statistically compared in clinical characteristics.

Results: The prevalence of PCL detected at MRI was 17.8% in the general population. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that fatty liver, body mass index, and the size of PCL were significantly associated with the factors influencing the visualization of PCL at TAUS (odds ratio [OR]: 0.337, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.154-0.734, P = 0.006; OR: 0.852, 95% CI: 0.737-0.985, P = 0.030; OR:1.120, 95% CI: 1.045-1.200, P = .001). Thirty-six PCLs (64.3%) in a total of 56 PCLs were undermeasured by TAUS. Additionally, nine (56%) out of 16 PCLs (≥ 15 mm) were undermeasured by 5 mm or more by TAUS, although a significantly higher detection rate was observed for PCLs (≥ 15 mm) in comparison with that for PCLs (< 15 mm) (80% vs 33.6%, P = .000).

Conclusions: It should be noted that coexisting fatty liver may lower the detection of PCL, and its size may be underestimated by TAUS.

Keywords: fatty liver; pancreatic cystic lesion; transabdominal ultrasonography.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

REFERENCES

    1. Gandolfi L, Torresan F, Solmi L, Puccetti A. The role of ultrasound in biliary and pancreatic diseases. Eur J Ultrasound. 2003;16(3):141-159.
    1. Martinez-Noguera A, D'Onofrio M. Ultrasonography of the pancreas. 1. Conventional imaging. Abdom Imaging. 2007;32(2):136-149.
    1. Karlson BM, Ekbom A, Lindgren PG, Källskog V, Rastad J. Abdominal US for diagnosis of pancreatic tumor: prospective cohort analysis. Radiology. 1999;213(1):107-111.
    1. Lee KS, Sekhar A, Rofsky NM, Pedrosa I. Prevalence of incidental pancreatic cysts in the adult population on MR imaging. Am J Gastroenterol. 2010;105(9):2079-2084.
    1. Mizuno S, Isayama H, Nakai Y, et al. Prevalence of pancreatic cystic lesions is associated with diabetes mellitus and obesity: an analysis of 5296 individuals who underwent a preventive medical examination. Pancreas. 2017;46(6):801-805.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources