Small pancreatic adenocarcinomas: efficacy of MR imaging with fat suppression and gadolinium enhancement

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of fat-suppressed T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and dynamic MR imaging in the diagnosis of small pancreatic adenocarcinomas.

Materials and methods: Pancreatic adenocarcinomas in 15 patients were evaluated with dynamic computed tomography (CT) and five MR imaging sequences that included fat-suppressed T1-weighted technique and dynamic multiplanar gradient-recalled acquisition in the steady state technique.

Results: The difference in contrast-to-noise ratios between tumor and normal pancreas was significantly different (P < .05) between the five MR imaging sequences used. In six patients, the combination of dynamic MR imaging and fat-suppressed imaging was superior to dynamic CT in the detection of tumors. Tumors accompanied by chronic pancreatitis were less distinct on fat-suppressed images but were clearly visible on dynamic MR images. Peripancreatic extension of tumors was better recognized on T1-weighted images and CT scans than on fat-suppressed images.

Conclusion: Fat-suppressed T1-weighted images and dynamic MR images were useful in the detection of pancreatic carcinomas. T1-weighted images and CT scans were superior in the evaluation of tumor extension.