ROLE OF COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN EVALUATION OF PANCREATIC DISEASES

Context: The evolving role of CT in the study of pancreas is not only in its ability to directly define the presence of an abnormality but it also surpasses the other imaging modalities in being able to demonstrate the extent of the disease and its spread to contiguous areas by virtue of its being a non-organ specific investigation. The ability of CT to image the pancreas adequately regardless of the bowel gas and fat gives it an advantage over ultrasound. Objectives: To study age and size distribution in pancreatic diseases. To differentiate cystic from solid pancreatic lesions. To differentiate inflammatory and neoplastic conditions with their characteristic imaging features. To classify and grade pancreatitis with the help of CT imaging features. Methods: This study comprises 50 patients of different age groups in whom there was clinical suspicion of pancreatic disorder. This includes 35 male and 15 female patients. Each patient had been studied by using plain and contrast computed tomography. Results: Maximum no. of patients' age was from 23 - 30. Pancreatic diseases were more commonly found in males than in females. Inflammatory diseases were found to be more common than neoplastic masses. Chronic pancreatitis were showing pancreatic duct dilatation, pancreatic atrophy and pancreatic calcification. Pseudocysts were associated with chronic pancreatitis. Pancreatic carcinomas extent and metastases was studied accordingly. Conclusion: CT alone is an excellent noninvasive imaging modality with a sensitivity of about 94% in diagnosing pancreatic diseases when used judiciously in good clinical settings and accuracy of almost 100% when used in conjunction with other imaging modalities like endoscopic retrograde colangiopancreatography, angiography and biopsy whenever indicated.