title: Preliminary Study of MR Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Pancreas for the Diagnosis of Acute Pancreatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the feasibility of differentiating between acute pancreatitis (AP) and healthy pancreas using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and correlate apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) /fractional anisotropy (FA) values with the severity of AP.
  
  
  METHODS
  66 patients diagnosed with AP and 20 normal controls (NC) underwent DTI sequences and routine pancreatic MR sequences on a 3.0T MRI scanner. Average ADC and FA values of the pancreatic were measured. Differences of FA and ADC values between the AP group and the NC group with AP and healthy pancreas were compared by two-sample independent t-test. The severity of AP on MRI was classified into subgroups using MR severity index (MRSI), where the mean FA and ADC values were calculated. Relationship among the FA values, ADC values and MRSI were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pancreatic mean ADC value in the AP group (1.68 ± 0.45×10-3mm2/s) was significantly lower than in the NC group (2.09 ± 0.55×10-3mm2/s) (P = 0.02); the same as mean FA value (0.39 ± 0.23 vs 0.54 ± 0.12, P = 0.00). In the subgroup analysis, the pancreatic ADC and FA value of edema AP patients was significantly higher than necrosis AP patients with P = 0.000 and P = 0.001respectively. In addition, as severity of pancreatitis increased according to MRSI, lower pancreatic ADC (r = -0.635) and FA value (r = -0.654) were noted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both FA and ADC value from DTI can be used to differentiate AP patients from NC. Both ADC and FA value of pancreas have a negative correlation with the severity of AP.
authors: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the First Military Medical University, Chongqing, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
authors: Xinghui
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
authors: Ling
authors: L
authors: Zhuang
authors: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the First Military Medical University, Chongqing, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
authors: Xiaoming
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the First Military Medical University, Chongqing, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the First Military Medical University, Chongqing, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
authors: Tianwu
authors: T
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the First Military Medical University, Chongqing, China; Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
authors: Liangjun
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: Department of Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
authors: Emmanuel Ajedichiga
authors: EA
authors: Aduah
authors: Department of Radiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America.
authors: Jiani
authors: J
authors: Hu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010179:Pancreas / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*