Consensus Reporting Standards for CT, MRI, and MRCP of Pediatric Chronic Pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis is a fibroinflammatory syndrome of the pancreas with a prevalence in children of approximately six per 100,000. Diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis in a child depends on the presence of imaging findings of chronic pancreatitis in the context of specific clinical features. Currently, a standardized reporting system for imaging findings of chronic pancreatitis in children is lacking, and imaging-based thresholds for abnormality have not been defined. Standardized reporting elements were defined for adults in 2019. Not all of the adult criteria are directly applicable to children due to changes in the pancreas with normal growth and development. To address the lack of accepted pediatric chronic pancreatitis reporting standards and encourage standardized communication of imaging findings, we convened a group of experienced pediatric radiologists and pediatric gastroenterologists with expertise in pancreatology and interventional endoscopy to define consensus reporting elements and interpretive criteria for findings of pediatric chronic pancreatitis. On the basis of the existing literature and panel opinion and leveraging a modified Delphi approach, we propose reporting standards for CT, MRI, and MRCP of pediatric chronic pancreatitis.