Magnetic resonance study of the pancreatic duct

AIM: to prospectively determine the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonan ce cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) in the evaluation of the normal and dise ased pancreatic duct. METHODS: patients seen during a 6-month period with a diagnosis of biliary tract or pancreatic disease underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancre atography (ERCP) after a previous MRCP. The pancreatic duct was evaluated w ith both techniques in 37 patients. RESULTS: the pancreatic duct appeared normal in ERCP in 27 patients, and al so appeared normal in MRCP in 25 of these patients (specificity 93%). ERCP showed moderate-severe pancreatic duct dilation in 8 patients, in whom the same diagnosis was reached with MRCP (sensitivity 100%). The causes of dila tion were chronic pancreatitis (2 patients), pancreatic cancer (3 patients) and ampullary tumor (2 patients); in 1 patient the findings with both tech niques were suggestive of neoplasm of the head of the pancreas or focal chr onic pancreatitis. Pancreas divisum was diagnosed in 2 patients by both met hods, and the predominant dorsal duct as well as the ventral duct were visu alized by MRCP. CONCLUSIONS: MRCP is an accurate technique for evaluating the normal or dis eased pancreatic duct, and for determining the underlying disease.