Age-related change of the secretory flow of pancreatic juice in the main pancreatic duct: evaluation with cine-dynamic MRCP using spatially selective inversion recovery pulse.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to evaluate age-related changes in the secretory flow of pancreatic juice in the main pancreatic duct noninvasively by means of nonpharmacologic cine-dynamic MRCP using spatially selective inversion recovery (IR) pulse.


METHODS
Fifty-three subjects without a history of pancreatic disease were included. Four-second breath-hold MRCP using spatially selective IR pulse was performed every 15 seconds during 5 minutes (acquiring a total of 20 images) in cine-dynamic fashion. The secretion grade was classified into five grades by the distance of pancreatic juice inflow within the tagged area. The mean secretion grade and the frequency of secretion in cine-dynamic MRCP were compared among three age-range groups (group 1, < 40 years; group 2, 40-70 years; and group 3, > 70 years). Statistical analysis was performed using Spearman rank correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests.


RESULTS
The secretion grade and the frequency of secretion were significantly reduced with aging (r = -0.77, p < 0.001; and r = -0.74, p < 0.001, respectively). The mean secretion grade and the frequency of secretion were significantly lower in group 3 than in group 2 (mean grade, 0.36 vs 1.48, p = 0.001; and 4.8 vs 11.9 times, p = 0.001) and were lower in group 2 than in group 1 (mean grade, 1.48 vs 2.48, p < 0.001; and 11.9 vs 16.2 times, p = 0.011).


CONCLUSIONS
Cine-dynamic MRCP using spatially selective IR pulse was able to show the age-related decrease of the secretory flow of pancreatic juice in the main pancreatic duct visually and noninvasively.
1 All authors: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Kawasaki Medical School, 577 Matsushima, Kurashiki, Okayama 701-0192, Japan.
Teruyuki
T
Torigoe
Katsuyoshi
K
Ito
Akira
A
Yamamoto
Akihiko
A
Kanki
Kazuya
K
Yasokawa
Tsutomu
T
Tamada
Koji
K
Yoshida
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D049448:Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance / Q000379:methods*; D002933:Cineradiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010183:Pancreatic Ducts / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010189:Pancreatic Juice / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult