INTRODUCTIONPancreatic cancer has an incidence rate of 13.6 per 100,000 in the United Kingdom.(1) Most patients with pancreatic cancer have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis, and their overall fiveyear survival rate is less than 5%, although this rate is estimated to rise to 10%-20% after curative surgery.(2-7) Curative and palliative operations are associated with an average inpatient stay of two weeks, a mortality rate of up to 5% and morbidity rates of 20%-50%.(8-10) Patient recovery is often slow and accompanied by further intervention. As a result, hospital and societal costs are high. Therefore, accurate patient staging is critical in order to avoid unnecessary operations.Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, when used with a hepatocyte-specific contrast agent, has increased sensitivity and specificity compared to computed tomography (CT).(11) Therefore, MR imaging is now routinely used for disease staging in patients with colorectal or other operable liver diseases who are suitable for liver resection. The reported sensitivity of MR imaging in detecting liver metastasis is 81%-92%, compared to 70%-87% for multidetector CT (MDCT). (12,13) No guideline exists on separate and specific staging of the liver in the setting of pancreatic cancer, although international guidelines recommend staging using contrast-enhanced MDCT while reserving MR imaging for indeterminate liver lesions encountered on CT. (14,15) The aim of this study was to prospectively assess the impact of liver MR imaging on the preoperative staging of patients with findings of resectable pancreatic cancer on CT.
METHODSAll patients referred to a regional centre for evaluation and treatment of suspected pancreatic cancer between April 2012 and December 2013 were included in this study. Investigations performed included CT (performed in the portal venous phase, 64-slice MDCT) of the chest, abdomen and pelvis, and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) with fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the pancreatic mass and suspicious adjacent lymph nodes.The imaging, pathologic and clinical findings were discussed at weekly multidisciplinary meetings attended by consultant surgeons, radiologists, pathologists and oncologists with a special interest in pancreatic cancer. Patients with pathologically confirmed pancreatic cancer deemed resectable on CT and EUS proceeded to MR imaging of the liver prior to surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The decision on resectability was based on established criteria (American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association/Society of Surgical Oncology/Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract).(16,17) Institutional Review Board approval was sought but not deemed necessary, as we were already routinely using MR imaging to stage patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who were being assessed for liver resection in our department. As part of the staging process, all patients undergoing operation for resectable pancreatic cancer had undergone prior laparoscopy to exclude peritoneal metastasis.Patients were examined using a Magnatom® A...