Are pancreatic calcifications specific for the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis? A multidetector-row CT analysis.

AIM: To retrospectively establish the most frequently encountered diagnoses inpatients with pancreatic calcifications and to investigate whether theassociation of certain findings could be helpful for diagnosis. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS: One hundred and three patients were included in the study. The location and distribution of calcifications; presence, nature, and enhancement pattern of pancreatic lesions; pancreatic atrophy and ductal dilatation were recorded.Differences between patients with chronic pancreatitis and patients with otherentities were compared by using Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Patients hadchronic pancreatitis (n=70), neuroendocrine tumours (n=14), intraductal papillarymucinous neoplasm (n=11), pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n=4), serous cystadenoma(n=4). Four CT findings had a specificity of over 60% for the diagnosis ofchronic pancreatitis: parenchymal calcifications, intraductal calcifications,parenchymal atrophy, and cystic lesions. When at least two of these four criteriawere used in combination, 54 of 70 (77%) patients with chronic pancreatitis couldbe identified, but only 17 of 33 (51%) patients with other diseases. When atleast three of these four criteria were present, a specificity of 79% for thediagnosis of chronic pancreatitis was achieved. CONCLUSION: Certain findings are noted more often in chronic pancreatitis than in other pancreatic diseases. Thepresence of a combination of CT findings can suggest chronic pancreatitis and be helpful in diagnosis.