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Lymphatic pathway around the pancreatic head and extrahepatic bile duct: evaluation using MR imaging at 3.0-T

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the utility of spectral presaturation with inversion recovery (SPIR) T2-weighted images with 3-dimensional (3D) volume isotropic turbo spin echo acquisition (VISTA) at 3.0-T for the detection of the normal lymphatic systems located around the pancreatic head and extrahepatic bile duct.

Materials and methods

Fifty-six patients with suspected hepatic or pancreaticobiliary diseases and diagnosed as normal or benign pathologies were evaluated as having normal lymphatic systems. The protocol consisted of SPIR T2-weighted sequences with 3D-VISTA. The lymphatic systems were defined as fluid signal intensity structures and divided into eight portions and interobserver agreement was evaluated using weighted kappa statistics. Three readers graded the visualization of each portion using a five-point scale. The detectability of each portion was calculated by defining grades 1–2 as detectable and grades 3–5 as undetectable.

Results

Interobserver agreement regarding the visualization grades was moderate to almost perfect. All readers rated the detectability of the lymphatic systems of the superior and posterior portions of the pancreatic head, pericholedochal, right abdominoaortic, and interaorticovenous portions as 100%, and that of the anterior portion of the pancreatic head as 98.2%. For the inferior portion of the pancreatic head, the detectability was 100% for reader 2 and 96.4% for readers 1 and 3.

Conclusion

The lymphatic systems located around the pancreatic head and extrahepatic bile duct could be sufficiently visualized on SPIR T2-weighted images with 3D-VISTA at 3.0-T.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank Takashi Itou, a radiological technologist at Oita Diagnostic Imaging Center in regard to MR imaging.

Conflict of interest

All authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Oita University, Yufu, Oita, 879-5593, Japan

    Yasunari Yamada, Hiromu Mori, Shunro Matsumoto, Maki Kiyonaga, Michiaki Sai & Ryo Takaji

  2. Oita Diagnostic Imaging Center, Beppu, Oita, 874-0023, Japan

    Kenichiro Tomonari & Rika Tanoue

Authors
  1. Yasunari Yamada
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  2. Hiromu Mori
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  3. Shunro Matsumoto
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  4. Maki Kiyonaga
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  5. Michiaki Sai
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Correspondence to Yasunari Yamada.

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Yamada, Y., Mori, H., Matsumoto, S. et al. Lymphatic pathway around the pancreatic head and extrahepatic bile duct: evaluation using MR imaging at 3.0-T. Abdom Imaging 40, 1617–1628 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-014-0346-z

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