title: Duct-penetrating sign at MRCP: usefulness for differentiating inflammatory pancreatic mass from pancreatic carcinomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To define the duct-penetrating sign at magnetic resonance (MR) cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and to assess the usefulness of this sign for distinguishing an inflammatory pancreatic mass (IPM) from a conventional pancreatic carcinoma (CPC) compared with arterial phase computed tomography (hereafter, CT) and arterial phase MR imaging (hereafter, MR imaging).
  
  
  METHODS
  MRCP, CT, and MR images were compared by means of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for 11 IPMs and 43 CPCs. With the MRCP images, a morphologic classification of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) was attempted for all lesions. On the basis of this classification and the enhancement patterns of a lesion, all readers graded the presence of IPM or CPC on a five-point scale for all images.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On the MRCP images, the morphologic characteristics of the MPD were nonobstruction for IPM (28 of 33, 85%) and obstruction or irregular stenosis for CPC (124 of 129, 96%). At ROC analysis among all the techniques, MRCP images had the highest value (0.98) for significant areas under the ROC curve (CT, 0.84; MR, 0.76) (P <.001). For the duct-penetrating sign in the broad sense (nonobstructed MPD) and the sign in the narrow sense (only normal MPD), the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for diagnosis of IPM were 85%, 96%, and 94%, respectively, and 36%, 100%, and 87%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The duct-penetrating sign on MRCP images was more helpful to distinguish IPM from CPC than were the enhancement patterns on CT and MR images.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Yamanashi Medical University, 1110 Shimokato, Tamaho, Nakakoma, Yamanashi 409-3815, Japan. ichikawa@res.yamanahi-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sou
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Arbab
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishigame
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haradome
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hachiya
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002758:Cholangiography / Q000379:methods*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010183:Pancreatic Ducts; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed