Abdominal and Retroperitoneal Sonography

Pitfalls in the echographic evaluation of pancreatic disease

“…Patients with possible pathology often undergo upper gastrointestinal examination, hypotonic duodenography , radioisotopic scintiscanning, selective and superselective angography, endoscopic cholangiopancreatography, and most recently, ultrasound examination. Several authors have discussed the echographic diagnosis of pancreatic lesions, and criteria for the diagnosis of inflammatory and neoplastic disease have been established (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9).…”

An evaluation of echography in the diagnosis of pancreatic disease.

“…The normal pancreas is not always well visualized by echography and it is often difficult to distinguish from the surrounding structure; on the other hand, the diseased pancreas, which is usually enlarged and structurally altered, gives a well-defined picture which may be of great assistance in diagnosis (Engelhardt and Blauenstein, 1970;Filly and Freimanis, 1970;Templeton and Stuber, 1971;Weill et al, 1971;Stuber et al, 1972). In chronic pancreatitis, the characteristic feature of the echogram is total or partial enlargement of the gland and areas of non-homogeneous structure consisting of low echo zones alternating irregularly with high echo zones which may involve the entire pancreas or be confined to certain sections (Filly and Freimanis, 1970).…”