Endoscopic ultrasound and Computed Tomography in the diagnosis, locoregional staging and assessment of vascular infiltration of pancreatic carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of colour-Doppler Endoscopic Ultrasonography (EUS), in the detection, loco-regional staging and assessment of vascular infiltration in pancreatic carcinoma, and to compare the results with those obtained by Computed Tomography (CT).


METHODS
A series of 57 patients with diagnosed or suspected pancreatic carcinoma was retrospectively analysed. All patients underwent EUS and thin-slice (< 5 mm) spiral dynamic CT. The final diagnosis (carcinoma in 37 patients and benign lesion in 20) was obtained by laparotomy in 21 patients, fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in 17, and follow-up in 19.


RESULTS
The specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of malignancy were respectively 45% and 92% for EUS and 45% and 89% for CT, with an accuracy of 75% for EUS (p <0.05) and 74% for CT (p = 0.07). The specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of loco-regional nodal metastases were both 100% for EUS. The specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of vascular infiltration were 100% and 94% for EUS and 100% and 44% for CT, giving a diagnostic accuracy of 97% for EUS vs 74% for CT (p <0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
EUS proved to be more sensitive and specific than CT in the loco-regional staging of pancreatic carcinoma. Its diagnostic accuracy is especially high in assessing vascular infiltration and loco-regional nodal metastases. CT still remains the examination of choice for staging pancreatic carcinoma and for assessing its resectability as it affords a panoramic view and ability to rule out distant metastases. Candidates to resection should all be examined by EUS, as, due to its high accuracy in loco-regional staging and assessing vascular infiltration, it might allow a large proportion of patients to be spared the operation.
Latronico
A
A
Divisione di Radiologia, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milano, Italy.
Crosta
C
C
De Fiori
E
E
Carolei
A
A
Ravizza
D
D
Bellomi
M
M