Background: To assess vascular infiltration is crucial in surgical planning of pancreatic cancer. Our aim was to assess the capability of multidetector CT in detecting vascular infiltration.
Methods: We evaluated 37 patients with pancreatic tumors. The relation between tumor and vessels was classified: grade 0: no contact between lesion and vessel; grade I: focal contiguity without modification of the vessel caliber; grade II: lesion surrounding the vessel, without reduction of its lumen; grade III: cancer surrounding the vessel with reduction or obstruction of its lumen. CT grades were compared to intraoperative findings and histopathology.
Results: We evaluated 52 critical vessels with the following CT grades: grade 0 (4 cases), grade I (13 cases), grade II (17 cases), grade III (18 cases). Vascular resection was performed in 26 patients, with a total of 31 resected vessels (3 of grade 0, 5 of grade I, 8 of grade II, 15 of grade III). Histopathology excluded vascular infiltration in 4/4 cases with grade 0 and in 10/13 cases with grade I and confirmed it in 14/17 cases with grade II and 14/18 cases with grade III.
Conclusions: Multidetector CT is accurate in detecting vascular involvement and provides pre-operative information to effectively plan resection.