Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI of the pancreas: Initial results in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic pancreatitis

Purpose: To characterize pancreatic perfusion in volunteers and patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) by dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI. Materials and Methods: Pancreatic enhancement after bolus' injection of Gd-DTPA with a three-dimensional ultrafast partial-Fourier radiofrequency (RF) spoiled gradient-echo (GE) acquisition was examined prospectively. An acquisition volume of the pancreatic parenchyma was obtained every 4.2 seconds during a single breath-hold in 31 volunteers and 19 patients with CP. We calculated the wash-in rate and a newly defined parameter, the "time-to-inflow deceleration" (TID). A statistical analysis of the differences between both groups was performed with the use of Student's t-test: Results: Significant differences in the TID and wash-in rate were found for the head and body of the pancreas: the TID was 22.4 sec +/- 4:4 sec and 23:5 sec +/- 6.1 sec in the pancreatic head and body of the :healthy volunteers, and 29:8 sec +/- 8.6 sec and 29.4 sec +/- 3.8 sec in patients with CP: The wash in rate was 96 +/- 37 sec(-1) and 101 +/- 27 sec(-1) in controls; and 62 +/- 17 sec(-1) and 75 +/- 27 sec(-1) in CP. Conclusion: CP can be identified by semiquantitative changes on DCE-MRI. Whether DCE-MRI of the pancreas can be used to detect early CP remains to be validated. (C) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.