Severe acute pancreatitis: contrast-enhanced CT and MRI features

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the staging of acute pancreatitis

“…Others grading systems and laboratory tests have been developed to identify severe acute pancreatitis: the Ranson or Glasgow criteria, the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) scoring system, and C-reactive protein levels (CRP) [3,9]. Other imaging techniques with a safer profile than CT, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and scintigraphy, have also been used to detect severe cases [8,[10][11][12][13]. It has been reported that these imaging techniques are as accurate as CT in diagnosing pancreatic necrosis and staging acute pancreatitis severity, avoiding radiation exposure and iodinated contrast media.…”

High signal peripancreatic fat on fat‐suppressed spoiled gradient echo imaging in acute pancreatitis: Preliminary evaluation of the prognostic significance

“…MR imaging is becoming increasingly practical as an alternative to CT for use in the evaluation of patients with acute pancreatitis, both as a result of increased availability and with the development of rapid breath-hold sequences. As a safer technique, MR imaging provides reproducible diagnostic information, and appears to be at least as effective as CT in assessing the presence and extent of necrosis and peripancreatic complications such as edema and fluid collections (3)(4)(5)(6). Previous studies with CT and MR showed that the quantity of pancreatic necrosis and the presence of peripancreatic inflammation are strongly associated with outcome (1,5).…”

Contrast-enhanced computed tomography in acute pancreatitis: does contrast medium worsen its course due to impaired microcirculation?

“…Those authors also addressed important logistic problems, e.g., the use of MRI in severely ill patients in the intensive care unit, the higher costs of MRI versus CT, and the availability of MRI scanners for emergency and routine use in the community. An increasing number of reports support a role for MRI in the diagnosis and assessment of acute pancreatitis [63][64][65][66][67]. However, a cautionary note is pertinent.…”