Trial Information

PET-CT in Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasms

Today, in clinical practice the diagnosis pancreatic cystic neoplasms are based on MDCT, MRI
and ERCP followed by surgical exploration. The information gained by conventional imaging
modalities is restricted to the morphological details, which usually is insufficient for the
definitive staging of the pancreatic cystic neoplasms. Based on these previous studies, it
seems that PET especially combined with CT modality could improve the diagnostic accuracy of
the pancreatic cystic lesions.

So far, there are only few cases published concerning the role of 18F-FDG-PET-CT in the
differential diagnosis of cystic pancreatic lesions. Therefore, more studies are needed to
determine the role of combined 18F-FDG-PET-CT in the diagnosis of pancreatic cystic lesions.

The aim of the current project is to evaluate the possibility to enhance the diagnostic
accuracy by using the combined 18F-FDG-PET-CT imaging in patients with pancreatic cystic
neoplasms by combining PET-CT with MRI and MDCT.

The study consists of 20-30 patients with pancreatic cystic neoplasms. The patients enrolled
in the study will be imaged by MDCT, MRI combined with magnetic resonance
cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and
18F-FDG-PET-CT followed by surgery or follow-up. The data will be collected between 2011
and 2013.