Utility of perfusion CT in characterizing the pancreatic tumors

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to apply perfusion CT (Computed Tomography) technique to various pancreatic masses and to prospectively evaluate the perfusion parameters of pancreatic lesions and to compare these parameters with the parameters of normal pancreatic parenchyma. Materials and Methods: A total of 33 subjects with pancreatic tumors underwent perfusion CT. The perfusion parameters like tBF & pBF (Tumor Blood-Flow and Pancreatic Blood-Flow), tPEI & pBF (Tumor Peak Enhancement Index and Pancreatic Peak Enhancement Index), tTTP & pTTP (Tumor Time to Peak and Pancreatic Time to peak) and tBV & pBV (Tumor Blood-Volume and Pancreatic Blood-Volume) were obtained by placing an ROI (Region of Interest) on the tumor and the normal pancreas respectively. Descriptive statistics of the perfusion values of the tumor and the normal pancreas was tabulated and statistical significance was calculated using Mann Whitney U test. Results: 26 patients had adenocarcinoma, 4 had endocrine tumors, 2 had metastases and 1 had Ewing’s sarcoma. Adenocarcinomas showed significantly lower BF (Blood-Flow), PEI (Peak Enhancement Index) and Blood volume (BV) but significantly higher TTP (Time to Peak) as compared to the normal pancreas (P