The value of modern ultrasonographic techniques and computed tomography in detecting and staging of pancreatic carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
to assess the clinical value of ultrasonographic methods and computed tomography in diagnosing and staging pancreatic carcinoma.


METHODS
prospective clinical trial of 140 patients (64 women and 77 men; mean age 59,6) operated on for pancreatic carcinoma between 2000 and 2004. In each case helical CT, routine-, color- and power Doppler and 3-D USG were performed to detect and stage cancer. Analyses of accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of ultrasonographic methods and CT were made.


RESULTS
3-D USG showed the best accuracy of local staging (T): 95.6%. CT was the most accurate in lymph node assessment: 91.3%. The accuracy of CT, 3-D USG and power-Doppler at detecting vascular infiltration was 93.1%.


CONCLUSIONS
diagnostic accuracy of modern ultrasound techniques is comparable to helical CT in detecting and staging pancreatic carcinoma. USG is recommended due to the relatively low cost, non-invasiveness and availability of the procedure.
Kłek
S
S
1st Department of General Surgery, Collegium Medicum Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. sklek@mp.pl
Kulig
J
J
Popiela
T
T
Kołodziejczyk
P
P
Szybiński
P
P
Popiela
T J
TJ
Urbanik
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*