Multislice CT in the study of insulinomas: preliminary experience

PURPOSE: To evaluate the potential of Multislice Computed Tomography (MSCT) in the study of pancreatic insulinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three patients with a suspected insulinoma underwent MSCT. All patients presented clinical and laboratory evidence of insulin secretive neoplasm. In all cases unenhanced and enhanced scans were performed. The enhanced scans were obtained after the injection of 2 ml/kg of non ionic contrast medium at a flow rate of 4 ml/sec with a scan delay of 35 and 55 sec. All the images were reformatted using MPR and MIP algorithms. RESULTS: In the three patients, CT showed the presence of an insulinoma (in two cases the neoplasm was sited in the head of the pancreas, in one case in the body). In two of the patients, MPR and MIP images did not add any diagnostic information. In one case, MIP and MPR reconstructions facilitated the diagnosis with a better depiction of anatomic relations between the lesion and pancreatic vessels. CONCLUSIONS: MSCT, in our limited experience, demonstrated good potential in the evaluation of insulinomas. MPR and MIP help in the evaluation of anatomic relations between lesions and vascular structures.