Preliminary study in detecting acute severe pancreatitis with contrast enhanced ultrasound

Objective To investigate the accuracy of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in diagnosing acute severe panereatitis.Methods Thirty three patients with acute severe pancreatitis were enrolled in the study and all of them underwent CEUS and spiral computed tomography(CT) scan.CT was taken as gold standard in acute severe pancreatitis diagnosis.CEUS were done within 72 hours after CT scan.Results Compared with CT, the sensitivity, specificity,accuracy, positive predictive value,and negative predictive value of CEUS for detecting the necrosis of pancreas were 90%, 95%, 94%, 90% and 95%respectively.The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value,and negative predictive value of CEUS in diagnosing severe acute pancreatitis were 85%, 92%, 88%, 94% and 80% respectively, while 37% ,86% ,58%, 78%, 50% for conventional ultrasound respectively.Conclusions CEUS is accurate in detection of pancreatic necrosis and diagnosis of acute severe pancreatitis. Key words: Ultrasonography; Microbubbles;  Pancreatitis,acute necrotizing