Pancreatic
Head Mass: What Can Be Done?
Diagnosis: Computed Tomography Scan
Tamás Winternitz1, Hay Habib2,
Katalin Kiss2, Tibor Tihanyi1
11st
Department of Surgery and 2Department of Radiology, Medical Faculty
of Semmelweis University. Budapest, Hungary
Sometimes the differentiation is easy:
Hypodense well demarcated lesions in the pancreatic body
in native scan: Insular tumour.
Enlarged,
non-homogeneous pancreatic head, peripancreatic fluid
collection: Acute pancreatitis.
Generally the differentiation is problematic:
Cystic
lesions in the uncinate process: Pancreatic pseudocyst.
Enlarged
pancreatic head with intraparechymal conglomerate of
cysts, well demarcated with hypervascularised septas: Macrocystic adenoma.
Generally the differentiation is problematic:
Enlarged,
pancreatic head with inhomogeneous parenchyma. Small hypodense
- cystic - lesion in the head: Chronic pancreatitis with pancreatic pseudocyst.
Generally the differentiation is problematic:
Celiac
trunk.
Generally the differentiation is problematic:
Enlarged
pancreatic head with hypodense lesion. Indistinct
border between the pancreas and the retroperitoneal space: Ductal
adenocarcinoma.
Enlarged
pancreatic head with hypodense and cystic lesions.
Involvement of mesenteric artery: Ductal adenocarcinoma.