Imaging of acute pancreatitis--the role of US, CT and MRI

Imaging of the pancreas with US and CT plays a major role in the diagnosis and evaluations of patients with acute pancreatitis. In severe acute pancreatitis, dynamic CT is essential to assess the severity of the disease and evaluate the complications. MRI is comparable to CT in its capacity to provide precise information about the severity of acute pancreatitis. MRI has some advantages over CT in being free from ionizing radiation and lower toxity of gadolinium which is used for contrast medium intravenously. The disadvantages of MRI, however, include cost, longer exam duration, limited availability and the practical difficulties of scanning a patient with ICU equipment.