Focal pancreatitis mimicking pancreatic mass: magnetic resonance imaging (mri)/magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (mrcp) findings including diffusion-weighted mri

Abstract

The spectrum of imaging findings of focal pancreatitis on MRI/MRCP including DWI was described. Findings of FP were not distinctive as compared to the remaining pancreas.

Apparent diffusion coefficient measurements of the pancreas, pancreas carcinoma, and mass-forming focal pancreatitis

“…However, there was a significant overlap in ADC values for PC and massforming FP, with the consequent problem of their correct differentiation. Chronic pancreatitis can also contain areas of fibrosis and focal inflammatory reactions (12), which might explain the difficulty to differentiate these severe pancreatic lesions.…”

“…Diffusion-weighted MRI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements have been applied to the abdomen (2)(3)(4)(5). The results suggest that ADC measurements can be useful in the evaluation of diffuse liver (6) and renal diseases (7,8) as well as for characterizing focal hepatic (4, 9), pancreatic (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), and renal (16) lesions. The purpose of our study was to evaluate DWI findings and measure the difference between ADC values of normal pancreas parenchyma, mass-forming focal pancreatitis (FP) and pancreas carcinoma (PC).…”

Diffusion-weighted MRI in the characterization of cystic pancreatic lesions: usefulness of ADC values

“…There is limited data in the literature on DW-MRI of the pancreas and particularly on the use of this technique in the diagnosis of cystic pancreatic lesions [3,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Two prior studies showed discordant findings: Yamashita et al [3] showed lower ADC in intraductal papillary mucinous tumors (IPMTs) compared to serous cystadenomas, whereas Irie et al [12] showed a total overlap of ADC between different categories of cystic lesions.…”

Reply to Letter to the Editor re: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of pancreas tumours

“…For example, there are studies showing that ADC values of mass-forming pancreatitis are higher [2,3] or lower [4,5] than ADC values of pancreas cancer. Additionally, one study shows that ADC values of mass-forming pancreatitis are indistinguishable from ADC values of the remaining gland [6]. The variability of the ADC values of mass-forming pancreatitis compared with those of pancreas cancer in the aforementioned reports may be explained by the nature of inflammation in the cases of mass-forming pancreatitis, which may happen in the form of either acute relapsing pancreatitis in the setting of chronic pancreatitis that may show increased ADC values or predominant fibrosis that will reveal lower ADC values [6].…”