Correlation between secretin-enhanced MRCP findings and histopathologic severity of chronic pancreatitis in a cat model.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the usefulness of secretin-enhanced magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (S-MRCP) in chronic pancreatitis (CP), we compared the severity of disease determined histopathologically with that indicated by S-MRCP imaging parameters in an induced CP cat model.


METHODS
An experimental group of randomly chosen cats (n = 24) underwent ligation of the pancreatic duct to induce CP, and cats in a similarly chosen control group (n = 8) were sham-operated. MRCP was performed prior to secretin stimulation, and 5 and 15 min afterward, noting in particular the pancreatic duct caliber change (PDC) and the increasing degree of fluid volume (IDFV). Histopathological changes were observed in pancreatic samples processed for hematoxylin-eosin and Sirius red staining, and CP was classified as normal, minimal, moderate, or advanced. Correlations were investigated between these groups and the PDC at 5 min and the IDFV at 15 min.


RESULTS
Between cats with minimal CP and the controls, the differences in mean IDFV and PDC were not significant although diseased cats showed a downward trend in both parameters. However, compared with the control group both the mean IDFV and PDC were significantly lower in cats with moderate (IDFV, P = 0.001; PDC, P = 0.013) or advanced (IDFV, P = 0.013; PDC, P = 0.001) CP.


CONCLUSIONS
The S-MRCP parameters IDFV and PDC correlated with the histopathological severity of induced CP. S-MRCP could be used to evaluate the severity of CP, although it is somewhat insensitive for depicting very early disease.
Department of Radiology, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong Medical University, Shanghai 200092, China.
Ting-Ting
TT
Zhang
Li
L
Wang
Deng-bin
DB
Wang
Zhi-Jun
ZJ
Huang
Yu-hua
YH
Li
Jian-Ping
JP
Lu
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D049448:Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance / Q000379:methods*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D008026:Ligation; D008297:Male; D010183:Pancreatic Ducts / Q000473:pathology*; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012633:Secretin
D012633:Secretin
BPD; CP; Chronic pancreatitis; FE-1; IDFV; MIP; MPD; MR; PDC; Pancreatic exocrine function; ROI; S-MRCP; SPACE; Secretin-enhanced MRCP; basal pancreatic duct diameter; chronic pancreatitis; ePFT; endoscopic pancreatic function testing; fecal elastase-1; increasing degree of fluid volume; magnetic resonance; main pancreatic duct; maximum intensity projection; pancreatic duct caliber change; region of interest; sampling perfection with application optimized contrasts using different flip angle evolutions; secretin-enhanced magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography