TY - JOUR A2 - Xu, Hui-Xiong AU - Azemoto, Nobuaki AU - Kumagi, Teru AU - Yokota, Tomoyuki AU - Hirooka, Masashi AU - Kuroda, Taira AU - Koizumi, Mitsuhito AU - Ohno, Yoshinori AU - Yamanishi, Hirofumi AU - Abe, Masanori AU - Onji, Morikazu AU - Hiasa, Yoichi PY - 2015 DA - 2015/05/19 TI - Utility of Contrast-Enhanced Transabdominal Ultrasonography to Diagnose Early Chronic Pancreatitis SP - 393124 VL - 2015 AB - Purpose. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between the grade of chronic pancreatitis (CP) and pancreatic blood flow as measured by contrast-enhanced transabdominal ultrasonography (CEUS) and to diagnose early CP easily. Methods. This pilot study was conducted in 8 patients with CP, 7 patients with early CP, and 6 control participants. After injecting 0.015 mL/kg of perflubutane by manual bolus, values in one region of interest (ROI) in pancreatic parenchyma and one ROI including the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) were measured. Results. The ratio of blood flow in the SMA and pancreatic parenchyma increased with grade of CP and was significantly higher in patients with CP (5.41; 2.10–11.02) than in patients with early CP (2.46; 1.41–5.05) and control participants (2.32; 1.25–3.04) (P=0.0279, P=0.0142, resp.). The ratio of blood flow in the SMA and pancreatic parenchyma correlated with grade of CP (rs=0.5904, P=0.0048). Conclusion. The ratio of blood flow correlates with grade of CP on CEUS. This safe and convenient method may be useful to diagnose early CP. SN - 2314-6133 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/393124 DO - 10.1155/2015/393124 JF - BioMed Research International PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -