Radiology of acute pancreatitis

Abstract

Summary

• 1.

  Radiographs of 88 patients with acute pancreatitis have been reviewed.

• 2.

  Plain films of the abdomen are of little help in making a positive diagnosis of pancreatitis.

• 3.

  A cholecystogram during the first two weeks of the illness is always abnormal.

• 4.

  Barium-meal examination can be done in the X-ray department or at the patient's bedside using portable apparatus. It may be of assistance in diagnosis both of pancreatitis and of its complications, and in following the progress of a pseudopancreatic cyst.

• 5.

  Per-operative pancreatography is simple, probably not very safe, and does not yield as much information as had been hoped.