Assessment of pancreatic CT enhancement using a high concentration of contrast material

To evaluate the usefulness of pancreatic enhancement using a high concentration of contrast material in CT.

We performed abdominal CT on 125 patients after dividing them at random into five groups with two different concentrations, two different injection rates and three different injection doses: group A: 100 ml, 300 mgI/mL, 3 mL/sec; group B: 2 mL/kg, 300 mgI/mL, 3 mL/sec; group C: 1.5 mL/kg, 370 mgI/mL, 3 mL/sec; group D: 2 mL/kg, 300 mgI/mL, 5 mL/ sec; and group E: 1.5 mL/kg, 370 mgI/mL, 5 mL/sec. Among these five groups, the two groups given a concentration of 370 mgI/mL received a dose of 1.5 mL/body weight.

The peak enhancement value of the pancreas was significantly greater in group E than in groups A and B. However, no statistically significant differences were found among the other groups.

The fast injection rate using the high concentration of contrast medium provided greater enhancement of the pancreas than the slow injection rate using the routine concentration of contrast medium, and pancreatic CT enhancement depended more on the dose of iodine per second than on that of total iodine.