Visualization of pancreatic juice movement using unenhanced MR imaging with spin labeling: preliminary results in normal and pathophysiologic conditions

Purpose: To visualize the movement of pancreatic juice noninvasively by using an unenhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique.

Materials and methods: Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained for this study. A flow-out technique of time-spatial labeling inversion pulse (SLIP) technique was applied using both nonselective and selective inversion pulses to label, or tag, pancreatic juice to move out of the region. Ten normal (eight men, two women; age range, 22-61 years; mean age, 35 years) and two pathologic conditions were examined on a commercially available 1.5 Tesla MR imager with quadrature-detected phased-array coils. All images were evaluated by two radiologists to assess depiction of the pancreatic juice movement or pancreatic juice reflux as compared to the pancreatic duct or the common bile duct on MRCP obtained before time-SLIP examination.

Results: The tagged pancreatic juice was satisfactory visualized after applying the pulse labeling. Noninvasive visualization of pancreatic juice movement, including normal pancreatic juice movement and reflux from the main pancreatic duct into the common bile duct, was possible by using the unenhanced time-SLIP technique.

Conclusion: Noninvasive visualization of pancreatic juice movement is possible by using the unenhanced MR imaging time-SLIP technique.