Diagnostic Yield of Transabdominal Ultrasonography for Evaluation of Pancreatic Cystic Lesions Compared with Endoscopic Ultrasonography

Detection rates of pancreatic cystic lesions (PCLs) have increased, resulting in greater requirements for regular monitoring using imaging modalities. We aimed to evaluate the capability of ultrasonography (US) for morphological characterization of PCLs as a reference standard using endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS). A retrospective analysis was conducted of 102 PCLs from 92 patients who underwent US immediately prior to EUS between January 2014 and May 2017. The intermodality reliability and agreement of the PCL morphologic findings of the two techniques were analyzed and compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient and kappa values. The success rates of US for delineating PCLs in the head, body, and tail of the pancreas were 77.8%, 91.8%, and 70.6%, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient for US and the corresponding EUS lesion size showed very good reliability (0.978; p < 0.001). The kappa value between modalities was 0.882 for pancreatic duct dilation, indicating good agreement. The kappa values for solid components and cystic wall and septal thickening were 0.481 and 0.395, respectively, indicating moderate agreement. US may be useful for monitoring PCL growth and changes in pancreatic duct dilation, but it has limited use in the diagnosis and surveillance of mural nodules or cystic wall thickness changes.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the capability of ultrasonography for morphological characterization of pancreatic cystic lesions (PCLs), finding that it can successfully delineate PCLs in the pancreas but has limited usefulness in assessing changes in pancreatic duct dilation.