A prospective evaluation of computed tomography and ultrasound of the pancreas.

Abstract

A prospective cooperative study was performed to assess the relative efficacy of computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound in detecting and identifying pancreatic lesions. Of the 279 patients in the study, 146 had a normal pancreas and 133 had an abnormal pancreas. All patients underwent both CT and ultrasound examinations. A total of 44 ultrasound examinations were technically unsatisfactory. When these suboptimal examinations were excluded, CT had a sensitivity of 0.87 and a specifiicty of 0.90 in detecting an abnormal pancreas. Ultrasound had a sensitivity of 0.69 and a specificity of 0.82. In detecting a lesion and identifying it as malignant or inflammatory, CT had a sensitivity of 0.56. CT is the method of choice for detecting a pancreatic lesion, assessing its extent and defining its etiology.