Insights into Imaging (Feb 2022)

Dual-energy CT with virtual monoenergetic images to improve the visualization of pancreatic supplying arteries: the normal anatomy and variations

  • Hong-wei Liang,
  • Yang Zhou,
  • Zhi-wei Zhang,
  • Gao-wu Yan,
  • Si-lin Du,
  • Xiao-hui Zhang,
  • Xin-you Li,
  • Fa-jin Lv,
  • Qiao Zheng,
  • Yong-mei Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13244-022-01157-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract Background Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a malignancy with poor prognosis, appropriate surgical resection and neoadjuvant therapy depend on the accurate identification of pancreatic supplying arteries. We aim to evaluate the ability of monoenergetic images (MEI [+]) of dual-energy CT (DECT) to improve the visualization of pancreatic supplying arteries compared to conventional polyenergetic images (PEI) and investigate the implications of vascular variation in pancreatic surgery and transarterial interventions. Results One hundred patients without pancreatic diseases underwent DECT examinations were retrospectively enrolled in this study. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) at 40-keV MEI (+) were significantly higher than those of PEI (p 0.05). Four types of variations were observed in the origin of DPA and three to five types in the origin of PSPDA, AIPDA and PIPDA. Conclusions 40-keV MEI (+) of DECT improves the visualization and objective and subjective image quality of pancreatic supplying arteries compared to PEI. Pancreatic supplying arteries have great variations, which has important implications for preoperative planning of technically challenging surgeries and transarterial interventions.

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