Multislice CT diagnosis of solid pancreatic pseudopapillary tumor

Objective: To assess the diagnostic value of multislice spiral CT (MSCT) in solid pancreatic pseudopapillary tumor. Methods: MSCT of 16 patients (12 women, 4 men with pathologically confirmed solid pancreatic pseudopapillary tumors was retrospectively analyzed. All scans were acquired using a 16-slice scanner (GE Discovery) without and with contrast enhancement in the arterial, venous and equilibrium phases. Multi-planar reconstruction was performed on all patients. Results: The tumors were located in the head (6), body (2), tail (3), both body and tail (4), or head and tail (1) of the pancreas. CT showed complex masses with punctate calcifications (2), intra-tumoral hemorrhage (4), and varying degrees of contrast enhancement of the solid components in the arterial phase. The contrast enhancement gradually increased in the venous and equilibrium phases similar to the normal pancreatic tissues. There was no enhancement of the cystic components whereas the tumor capsules enhanced with contrast. Intra- and extrahepatic bile duct dilatation was noted in one patient. Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced MSCT in conjunction with clinical features has higher diagnostic value for solid pancreatic pseudopapillary tumor. (authors)