Calibrated Magnetic Resonance Hydrometry to Quantify Pancreatic Juice: A Preliminary Study

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of the calibrated MR hydrometry (CMRH) method for accurately measuring pancreatic secretion. Materials and Methods: All studies were performed on a 1.5-T MR system using a fat-suppressed, single-shot half-Fourier fast spin-echo sequence with a standard body coil. A certain volume (20 mL) of saline solution was employed as an extrabody calibrator. The validity of the CMRH method was tested both in vitro and in vivo, and actual and calculated volumes were compared. Results: The in vitro study yielded a high correlation (r = 0.99: P < 0.0001) between the actual volume of saline solution in the imaging field and the calculated volume. In the in vivo study, for all volunteers. there was a very strong and significant positive correlation between the measured signal intensities or calculated volumes and actual volumes (correlation coefficient range: 0.94-0.99; P < 0.0001). Conclusion: This preliminary study shows that CMRH is an effective tool to measure the amount of pancreatic fluid secretion.