MR cholangiopancreatography in biliary disease. A prospective study in 60 patients.

Purpose: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate a new MR cholang iography sequence, with thick slices, single shot fast spin echo (SSFSE) in biliary obstructive diseases. Patients and methods: This study included 60 patients (36 males and 24 fema les, mean age: 69 years) with cholestatic syndrome and suspected bile duct obstruction. All patients were prospectively investigated with MR cholangio graphy using SSFSE sequence with thick slices. The gold standard was ERCP ( n = 47), per cutaneous cholangiography (n = 1), and surgical intervention ( n = 12). According to this gold standard, 22 patients had obstructive galls tones, 23 had neoplastic obstruction, eight had inflammatory or postoperati ve stenosis and 7 had normal bile ducts. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MR cholangiography were 100 and 94% in the diagnosis of obstructive gallstones, and 95 and 97% in the diag nosis of neoplastic obstruction, respectively. A good agreement was observe d between MR cholangiography and the gold standard, regardless of the site of obstruction (range of kappa value: 0.79-1). Conclusion: MR cholangiography with SSFSE sequence is an effective and easy technique. Acquisition of thick slices in a very short time (< 2 sec) limi ts cardiorespiratory artefacts and eliminates the need for post-processing. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.