First use of ultrasound elastography in differential diagnostics of pancreatic cystic lesions

Aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasonic elastography in the differential diagnostics of pancreatic cystic lesions. Materials and methods. Seventy patients with pancreatic cystic lesions were examined. Structure of clinical forms: serous cystadenoma – 2, mucinous cystadenoma – 2, mucinous cystadenocarcinoma – 2, highly differentiated endocrine functionally inactive cystic tumor – 1, solid pseudopapillary tumor – 1, mixed sero-neuroendocrine neoplasia – 1, pseudocyst – 61. Diagnosis of cystic pancreatic formations was stated with the help of transabdominal ultrasound examination (with 3D reconstruction) and ultrasonic elastography. Results. The parameters of ultrasonic elastography for various types of cystic pancreatic formations were determined. Sensitivity, specificity, prognosticity of the positive result, predictability of the negative result, the overall accuracy of the technique were 97%, 75%, 74%, 97% and 84%, respectively. The AUC value (the area bounded by the ROC curve) for ultrasonic elastography was 0.93 (P=0.028). Conclusions. Ultrasonic elastography is an effective, non-invasive technique of differential diagnostics of cystic pancreatic formations and can be widely used in clinical practice.