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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Gastric Point of Care Ultrasound in Adults: Image Acquisition and Interpretation
Published on: September 22, 2023
Sonographic findings in groove pancreatitis
Marek Wronski1, Dominika Karkocha, Maciej Slodkowski
1Department of General, Gastroenterologic, and Oncologic Surgery, Medical University of Warsaw, Ulica Banacha 1A, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland. mwronski@vp.pl
Abstract:
Groove pancreatitis is a rare form of chronic pancreatitis involving the anatomic plane between the pancreatic head and duodenum. The radiographic diagnosis remains challenging, and most patients undergo exploratory laparotomy on suspicion of a periampullary malignancy. The appearance of groove pancreatitis on transabdominal and intraoperative sonography has rarely been reported in the literature. The sonographic findings in our 2 patients included a hypoechoic thin area between the pancreatic head and duodenum, a hyperechoic and thickened wall of the adjacent duodenum, and a heterogeneous or hyperechoic dorsocranial part of the pancreatic head.
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