title: Echo-enhanced ultrasonography: is it the future gold standard of imaging in acute pancreatitis?
abstract: We report the imaging of a patient in whom the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis and the assessment of disease severity was carried out using echo-enhanced ultrasonography. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography confirmed the echo-enhanced ultrasonography picture. Echo-enhanced ultrasonography may become the imaging technique of choice in assessing the severity of acute pancreatitis since it is easy to perform, safe and lends itself to emergency situations. Most importantly, this technique should be also useful for following-up patients and it may be also an alternative to MRI in those patients in whom contrast-enhanced computed tomography cannot be carried out.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Sant'Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brocchi
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piscaglia
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonora
authors.forename: Natascia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Celli
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venturi
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fantini
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tomassetti
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corinaldesi
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pezzilli
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010179:Pancreas / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods