From Pathogenesis, Clinical Manifestation, and Diagnosis to Treatment: An Overview on Autoimmune Pancreatitis

Table 5

Cons and pros of different kinds of imaging.

Imaging	Imaging findings	Advantage	Disadvantage	When to select
US	Diffuse enlargement, hypoechoic pancreas	Low price, noninvasive, and easy to operate	Lack of specificity	Physical examination
CT	Diffuse morphological pancreatic parenchymal enlargement, focal enlargement of the pancreas [72]	Being noninvasive, being easy to operate, high quality image for pancreatic parenchymal enlargement, differentiating AIP from pancreatic cancer	Less sensitivity in the pancreatic and bile duct lesion than MRCP and MRI	Evaluate the pancreatic parenchyma and differentiate AIP from pancreatic cancer
MRI	Hypointense signal on T1 weighted images and relatively T2 hyperintense signal [75]	Being noninvasive, being easy to operate, showing the pancreatic fibrosis	Less sensitivity in pancreatic parenchymal than CT	Evaluate the pancreatic parenchyma
MRCP	Diffused narrow or segmental stenosis of main pancreatic ducts, the pancreatic segment of common bile duct stricture, proximal bile duct dilation, and gallbladder enlargement [80]	Being noninvasive, being easy to operate, presenting the pancreatic duct and bile duct and their relationship	Less sensitivity in the focal lesion of pancreatic parenchymal than CT	Evaluate the bile duct, pancreatic duct, and bile duct stricture
ERCP	Diffuse, irregular narrowing of the MPD [82, 83]	Diagnosis and treatment simultaneously, especially in the case of jaundice	Invasive	Evaluating the bile duct, pancreatic duct, and bile duct stricture, treatment for jaundice
EUS-FNA	—	Get the tissue with much less wound than surgery	Invasive; May not get adequate tissue	Get the pancreatic tissue sample
PET	Uptake of fluorodeoxyglucose in organs other than the pancreas [88, 89]	Other organ involvement is easily detected	Expensive	Assess the other organ involvement, exclude malignant tumor