title: Diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis by means of a sonographic secretin test.
abstract: The pancreatic duct can be demonstrated today by sonography in about 90% of all persons examined. In 159 persons, aged 18-79 yr, we measured sonographically the pancreatic duct diameter before and after intravenous secretin injection. After secretin stimulation, 20 healthy controls and 90 patients without pancreatic disease showed a distinct pancreatic duct dilatation of 93 and 94% of basal duct diameter lasting only several minutes. No distinct secretin-induced duct enlargement was observed in 35 of 40 patients with chronic pancreatitis. Patients with chronic pancreatitis and circumscript duct stenosis even had a marked and longer-lasting duct dilatation of 156% of basal duct diameter after secretin stimulation. This study showed a high reliability of the sonographic secretin test in the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis--even in an early stage--recording a sensitivity of 92.5%, a specificity of 93%, and a predictive value of 84%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Municipal Hospital Kassel, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pausch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004108:Dilatation, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010183:Pancreatic Ducts / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D010186:Pancreatic Function Tests; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012633:Secretin; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D012633:Secretin