Pancreas-specific protocols involve images in the pre-contrast, early arterial (CT angiography), portal venous, and pancreatic phases. The early arterial phase is useful in delineating the superior mesenteric artery and aorta, while the portal venous phase can assess venous involvement and liver metastases. There is conflicting data on the optimal phase for the enhancement of pancreatic lesions. Due to its hypovascularity, some studies suggest better visualization of PDAC as low-attenuation lesions during the arterial phase, whereas others demonstrated better pancreatic.
A between normal pancreas and tumor in the portal venous phase (Choi et al., 1997; Graf et al., 1997). Pancreatic tumors are often ill-defined, with irregular texture Spain phone number list and abnormal morphology. Current imaging techniques fall short when it comes to predicting resection due to radiographically occult malignancies and are much better at predicting unresectable disease (Jimenez et al., 2000). In this study, we obtained multiphase CT images from patients undergoing treatment for PDAC and used GE AW 3D software to characterize vascular invasion and radiodensity of tumors at different stages.
Because current imaging techniques can miss the opportunity for resection, the goal of this study was to develop a novel and clinically applicable radiologic scoring system that accurately reflected treatment response and tumor resectability in the hope of increasing survival. There is a study looking at a similar radiologic scoring system for cholangiocarcinoma based on current guidelines but with the addition of vascular invasion. This demonstrated a possible increased predictive accuracy for surgical resection.